also called tax residency · fiscal resident
The country that has the right to tax you on your income, decided by that country's own rules rather than your citizenship.
Being a tax resident of a country means that country has the right to tax you, decided by its own rules about how long you stay and how tied to it you are, not by which passport you hold. It is a separate thing from a residence permit, which is about your immigration right to live somewhere; you can be a tax resident of a place without an immigration status, and the reverse. Trip its tests and that country can claim tax on your worldwide income.
You think you left your home country for good, but you kept spending long stretches there visiting family. Its day-counting rules still class you as tax resident, and a bill lands for tax on income you earned everywhere, in a place you were sure you had left behind.
Being a tax resident somewhere can mean that country taxes your worldwide income, so getting it wrong can create a surprise tax bill in a place you thought you'd left.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
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