Tax residency in Panama: the 183-day rule
Medium confidenceReviewed in September 2026
The short answer
183days in calendar year
- Window
- Calendar year
- How it counts
- Any presence during the day
- Direction
- Reaching the threshold makes you resident
How the days are counted
More than 183 days, consecutive or not, in a fiscal year or in the immediately preceding one; the individual fiscal year is the calendar year. The law does not say whether the days of arrival and departure count, so we count any presence. You are also resident if you have a permanent home there.
Panama taxes only Panamanian-source income, so being resident does not mean being taxed on what you earn elsewhere: the count does not decide on its own.
The source
Reviewed in September 2026Spotted something wrong? Tell us ›