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Expat taxes in Canada come down to one question: did you cut your residential ties when you left? If you did, you generally become a non-resident and owe Canadian tax only on Canadian income. If you didn’t, the CRA can treat you as a resident who still owes tax on income from everywhere. We assumed “Myexpattaxes” means a service for people living abroad, and this page makes no claim about it. It covers what the CRA itself says about leaving Canada.
When do you stop being a Canadian resident for tax?
You usually become a non-resident on the latest of three dates, says the CRA. One is the day you leave Canada. Another is the day your spouse or partner and dependants leave. And the third is the day you become a resident of the country you settle in. Whichever comes last wins.
What carries the weight is your residential ties. If you sell your Canadian home, set up a home abroad, and your family moves too, your main ties are gone. If you keep a home, family or property here, the CRA may say you’re still a factual resident, not an emigrant. Form NR73 asks the CRA to give an opinion on your status.
| Form | What it does |
|---|---|
| NR73 | Asks the CRA to determine your residency status when leaving |
| T1161 | Lists your property if its total value was over $25,000 when you left |
| Form 428 | Provincial or territorial tax credits, in the tax package for your province on departure |
What is departure tax?
Most people call it departure tax, and it lands like one. When you leave, you’re treated as having sold certain property, such as shares, at fair market value. Any gain can be taxed as a capital gain, even though you haven’t sold a thing.
Say you hold shares that cost $100,000 and are worth $140,000 on the day you leave, and you had $60,000 of other income that year in Ontario. The capital gains tax calculator shows $6,080 of extra tax on that $40,000 gain, 15.2%. That uses a 50% inclusion rate, which we couldn’t confirm on a CRA page for 2026. The plan to raise it to two thirds was cancelled by the Prime Minister’s release of March 21, 2025.
The calculator leaves out your main home, which is usually exempt, and it doesn’t cover every asset the CRA treats differently. So use it for a rough figure only.
Which return do you file the year you leave?
The CRA says you file if you owe tax or want a refund of overpaid tax, using the tax package for the province or territory where you lived on the day you left. To see the tax on your income for the part of the year you were here, run your figures through the income tax calculator. Note it treats the whole year as Canadian, so it overstates a part-year situation.
Tell your Canadian payers and financial institutions you’re no longer a resident. If you skip that, income can keep flowing as though nothing changed, and sorting it out later is a nuisance.
Do expat taxes apply to money you earn abroad?
This is where we stop. A resident of Canada is taxed on worldwide income, and a non-resident generally only on Canadian-source income. Whether a treaty between Canada and your new country changes the result depends on the treaty and on your facts. We couldn’t verify treaty details for any country, so we leave them out.
If you’re self-employed abroad while still tied here, the self-employed tax calculator works only for a Canadian resident and leaves out EI. It won’t tell you if you’re one.
A cross-border situation is the clearest case for paid help. A person who handles leaving Canada returns and can explain NR73 and T1161 earns their fee here. Ask for the price in writing, since we couldn’t confirm fees.
Where the numbers come from
The residency rules, forms and the $25,000 property threshold come from the Canada Revenue Agency page on leaving Canada, read in September 2026. The capital gains example uses 2026 federal and Ontario rates from our calculator. This site isn’t connected to the CRA.
Frequently asked questions
When do I stop being a Canadian resident for tax?
Generally on the latest of the day you leave Canada, the day your spouse or partner and dependants leave, and the day you become a resident of the new country.
What is Form NR73?
It's the form for asking the CRA to determine your residency status when you leave Canada.
Do I file a return the year I leave?
The CRA says to file if you owe tax or want a refund of overpaid tax, using the tax package for the province or territory you lived in when you left.
What is the departure tax?
When you leave, you're treated as having sold certain property at fair market value, so you may owe tax on the gain. Form T1161 applies if the property's total value was over $25,000.
Does a tax treaty remove my Canadian tax?
It can change the result, but we couldn't verify treaty terms for any country. Check the treaty text and the CRA's pages for your country.
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Information only. This page is general information, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Tax-Services.ca is an independent publisher: we don't prepare or file tax returns or offer tax services, and we have no connection with the CRA, Revenu Québec, any government or any company named on this page. Check the figures that matter with an official source or a qualified professional.