Nurses and caregivers working abroad
Leaving, working, and coming back each raise a different question. Here is how to think about all three.
A nurse takes a contract abroad. A caregiver leaves for two years. The plan is to work, send money home, and eventually return.
Between departure and return there are three separate tax questions, and mixing them up is where the confusion comes from.
Where you live is the deciding fact
The system distinguishes between people based on where they reside, not on their nationality.
Someone living in the Philippines is generally taxed on income wherever it comes from. Someone who has genuinely established themselves abroad as an overseas worker is treated differently in respect of income earned out there.
That is why the same salary can be treated differently depending on the circumstances of the person earning it. And it is why the honest answer to "are my earnings abroad taxed at home" begins with questions about your situation rather than about the money.
Leaving properly
The transition matters. A person who leaves in the middle of a year has part of that year at home and part abroad, and the year of departure is often the one with the most questions.
Two practical points. Employment income earned here before you left is part of that year's picture, and your last employer's paperwork matters. And your existing registrations do not evaporate because you boarded a plane: a business you ran here, a rental property, or a professional registration all continue to exist and to expect things.
Nurses in particular often leave with a professional registration and sometimes a small practice or a part-time role still on file. Closing or updating what needs closing before you go is far easier than doing it from abroad.
While you are away: what stays behind
The most common gap for workers abroad is not the foreign salary. It is what they own at home.
A house rented out generates rental income here, and that is taxed here regardless of where you are. A small business run by a relative using your capital is a business with obligations. Property bought while you are away has its own transaction taxes.
Money sent home for family support is a different matter, and the person receiving it is generally not earning income by receiving it. But money sent home to fund a business, or income produced by property here, is not support, and it is easy for a family to blur the two.
Coming home
The year of return is the mirror image of the year of departure, and it is the one worth planning for. Establishing residence again changes your position, and the timing within a year matters.
Returning workers also tend to arrive with plans: start a business, buy a jeepney, open a store, build for rent. Those plans bring registration, records, and filing, and the best time to understand them is before the money is committed rather than after.
Practical footing
Know which category you are in, and be able to say why.
Deal with what you leave behind before you leave: registrations, property, and any business.
Keep the family clear on the difference between support money and business money.
Keep records of what you own here and any income it produces.
Plan the year you come home, especially if you intend to start something.
Working abroad, or coming home after years away, and unsure what applies to you here? Ask AskOnward for a clear answer from the official BIR rules, so your plans at home are built on the right assumptions.
This article is for general information and is not affiliated with the government. For official forms and the latest rules, see the Bureau of Internal Revenue at bir.gov.ph.