Compare · Mexico vs Philippines
Mexico vs Philippines for Australians leaving home
Mexico:Worldwide taxAU tax treatyPhilippines:Territorial taxAU tax treaty
The regimes are genuinely different: Mexico is a worldwide tax system while Philippines runs territorial tax, which of your income streams each one actually touches matters more than any headline rate.
Both have a tax treaty with Australia, so either way you get a tie-breaker if the ATO contests your departure, and capped withholding (15%/10% vs 15%/10% on unfranked dividends/interest).
Philippines is the cheaper place to live day to day, roughly 45% of Sydney's basket against Mexico's 55% (indicative, ex-rent), which can outweigh a thinner tax saving over a full household budget.
Personalise this, enter your numbers once and every figure below becomes yours: “your estimated income tax: $14,200”, not “0, 22%”. Open the Country Comparison tool →
| 2 destinations | MexicoMexico | PhilippinesPhilippines |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | ||
| Regime | worldwide, taxes worldwide income | territorial, worldwide income not taxed |
| Income tax on salary | Progressive 1.92% to 35% (top rate from roughly MXN 4.5m ≈ A$390k). Employees are withheld at source; everyone else deals with SAT directly. | Progressive 0, 35% on Philippine-source compensation and business income; the 35% band starts at PHP 8m (~A$216k). |
| Capital gains | Flat 10% on gains from shares sold through a recognised stock exchange. Off-exchange sales (private companies, real estate) are taxed at progressive rates with cost-base indexation for inflation. (10% typical) | Foreign share gains: not taxed for resident aliens. Philippine listed shares: 0.6% stock transaction tax on gross sale. Unlisted Philippine shares: 15% CGT. (0% typical) |
| Dividends | Mexican dividends: 10% withholding on the net dividend, on top of 30% corporate tax already paid. Foreign dividends and interest are taxed at your progressive marginal rate, Australian franking credits mean nothing to SAT. | Foreign dividends: outside the Philippine net for resident aliens. Philippine dividends: 10% final withholding. |
| Interest | Taxed locally around 35% | Generally untaxed locally |
| Crypto | No dedicated crypto regime: SAT treats disposals as ordinary income or alienation-of-goods gains at progressive rates up to 35%, the 10% exchange rate does not apply to crypto. Guidance is thin; get Mexican advice before realising anything large. | No dedicated crypto tax rules: BIR guidance treats trading profits as taxable income when Philippine-source. Offshore-exchange gains of a resident alien are foreign-source and outside the net, but documentation matters. |
| Australia tax treaty | Yes, AU withholding capped at 15% dividends / 10% interest, tie-breaker available | Yes, AU withholding capped at 15% dividends / 10% interest, tie-breaker available |
| Social security | IMSS social security applies to Mexican employment (employer-heavy contributions); self-employed expats generally sit outside it and buy private cover instead. | SSS/PhilHealth apply to local employment; retirees and remote workers on their own income are outside them. |
| Visa | ||
| Best pathways |
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| Visa ease | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Family on visas | Dependants covered on main pathways | Dependants covered on main pathways |
| Fastest timeline | ~2 months on the quickest pathway | ~0 months on the quickest pathway |
| Money | ||
| Rent (family home, monthly) | $3,800/mo | $2,000/mo |
| Rent (couple, monthly) | $2,200/mo | $1,100/mo |
| International school (per child/yr) | $20,000 | $14,000 |
| Health cover (family/yr) | $6,000 | $4,500 |
| Cost of living vs Sydney | 55% of Sydney (ex-rent) | 45% of Sydney (ex-rent) |
| Relocation one-off | ~$18,000 | ~$12,000 |
| Flights home (return, pp) | $2,500 | $1,300 |
| Life | ||
| Timezone vs AEST | 16h behind | 2h behind |
| Flight from Sydney | ~16 hours | ~8.5 hours |
| English | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Safety | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Healthcare | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Schooling | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Climate | Mexico City sits at 2,240m: mild "eternal spring" year-round, a wet season May, October, and air quality that varies. Coastal Mexico is a different, hotter story. | Tropical with a serious typhoon season (June, November); Manila is hot, humid and flood-prone. |
Costs, rates and visa figures are country-module data marked indicative until individually verified; FX and rental markets move constantly.
Honest downsides, side by side
Every destination hub on this site carries its downsides in the open. Here are both lists together, because the right question is rarely “which is better?” and usually “which set of problems would you rather live with?”
Mexico
- Security is genuinely region-dependent: Mexico City neighbourhoods, Mérida and Querétaro feel safer than their reputation; other states are on the DFAT do-not-travel list. Where you live matters more than the country average.
- Bureaucracy runs in Spanish, SAT registration, CFE electricity accounts, banking, INM renewals. Without workable Spanish or a good gestor/accountant, routine admin becomes a part-time job.
- It is about as far from Australia as you can get: ~16 hours flying, a 15, 17 hour time-zone gap that inverts your working day against AEST, and A$2,500 flights making "quick trips home" neither quick nor cheap.
- The cost of living is roughly half of Sydney, but so are local salaries; this is a destination for imported income, not for building a local career.
Philippines
- Infrastructure is the weak point: Manila traffic is globally infamous, power and internet reliability vary, and healthcare outside top private hospitals is thin.
- Safety requires judgment, petty crime in cities, and entire regions (western Mindanao) under standing government travel warnings.
- Typhoons are not an abstraction: multiple significant hits per year, with flooding even in metro Manila.
- Foreigners cannot own land (condos yes, land no), long-term settling means leases or a Filipino spouse's title.
- The banking system is parochial: moving money in is easy, opening accounts and moving it out less so.
Make this comparison yours
The table above shows the general figures. Enter your income and family once and the tax rows become your numbers, “your estimated income tax in Mexico City: $14,200”, not a range.