Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Expat taxes for people leaving Canada come down to residential ties. If you cut your main ties, you generally become a non-resident and owe Canadian tax only on Canadian income. If you keep them, the CRA can treat you as a resident taxed on worldwide income. Leaving can also trigger a deemed sale of certain property.
When do you stop being a Canadian resident for tax?
We assumed “Myexpattaxes” means a service for people living abroad, and this page makes no claim about it. It covers what the CRA says on its page for people leaving or entering Canada. 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. The CRA’s examples include shares, jewellery, paintings and collections. 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%. 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 ballpark 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.
If you lived in Quebec when you left, you file with Revenu Québec. If you decide you don’t need to file, tell the CRA your departure date as soon as you can. 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.
What should you do before you leave?
Think of Wei, a software developer in Vancouver taking a job in Lisbon. She doesn’t have to have every answer on the plane, but a few jobs are easier before she goes.
- Write down the date she leaves, the date her partner and dependants leave, and the date she settles abroad. The latest of those matters.
- Make a list of what she owns and what each item is worth, since a property list and a deemed sale both start from values on the day she leaves.
- Keep proof that her Canadian ties ended: the lease or sale of her home, a new address abroad, closed accounts.
- Decide whether to ask the CRA for an opinion with Form NR73, and allow time for the answer.
- Update her address and tell payers and banks she’s no longer a resident.
None of this is glamorous. It’s a folder and a few phone calls, and it’s far cheaper than arguing about dates years later. If a message from the CRA does show up after you’ve gone, answer it promptly. Silence rarely helps.
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 did we check these figures?
The residency rules, forms and the $25,000 property threshold come from the Canada Revenue Agency page on leaving Canada, read in November 2026. The capital gains example uses 2026 federal and Ontario rates from our calculator. This is an independent guide, separate from any government body.
Frequently asked questions
When do I stop being a Canadian resident for tax?
You usually become a non-resident on the latest of three dates: the day you leave Canada, the day your spouse or common-law partner and dependants leave, and the day you become a resident of the new country. This assumes you cut your main residential ties. Keeping a home or family here can make you a factual resident.
What is Form NR73?
It is the CRA’s Determination of Residency Status (leaving Canada) form. You fill it out to ask the CRA for an opinion on whether you are a non-resident when you leave. Allow time for the answer, and keep proof that your Canadian ties ended, such as a sale or lease of your home and a new address abroad.
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. Use the tax package for the province or territory where you lived on the day you left, and complete Form 428 for provincial credits. If you lived in Quebec, you file with Revenu Québec. If you don’t file, tell the CRA your departure date.
What is the departure tax?
When you leave, you are treated as having sold certain property, such as shares, jewellery and paintings, at fair market value, and as having bought it back. A gain can be taxed as a capital gain even though you sold nothing. If the total value of your property was over $25,000, you file Form T1161.
Does a tax treaty remove my Canadian tax?
It can change the result. The CRA notes that a tax treaty could make you a deemed non-resident, with the same rules as an emigrant. We couldn’t verify the terms of any country’s treaty, so read the treaty text and the CRA’s pages for your country, and ask a cross-border preparer about your own case.
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