Canadian Tax Residency: Ties, Sojourning and Leaving
How the CRA decides factual residency through residential ties, when the 183-day sojourning rule makes you a deemed resident, and what to do when you emigrate.
Canada taxes residents on worldwide income, and residency turns mainly on residential ties rather than a simple count of days. Understanding the ties is essential for snowbirds, expats leaving Canada and newcomers.
Factual residence: the ties
The Canada Revenue Agency looks first at significant residential ties:
- A home in Canada (owned or leased, and available to you).
- A spouse or common-law partner in Canada.
- Dependants in Canada.
Secondary ties also count: personal property (cars, furniture), social ties (memberships), economic ties (Canadian bank accounts, credit cards, employment), a Canadian driver's licence, provincial health insurance, and more. Keeping a significant tie generally means you stay a factual resident even while abroad.
Deemed residence: the 183-day sojourning rule
If you are not a factual resident, you can still be a deemed resident if you sojourn (stay temporarily) in Canada for 183 days or more in a calendar year. Deemed residents are taxed on worldwide income for the whole year, subject to treaty tie-breakers.
Leaving Canada
- Your departure date is usually the latest of the day you leave, the day your spouse and dependants leave, or the day you become resident of your new country.
- Departure tax: you are generally deemed to have sold certain property at fair market value when you emigrate (with exceptions such as Canadian real estate and registered plans).
- File a final return for the departure year and consider Form NR73 if your status is unclear.
Snowbirds
Canadians who winter in the US must watch both sides: the US Substantial Presence Test (see our guide) and provincial health-insurance absence limits, which are often stricter than tax rules. The closer-connection statement (IRS Form 8840) is the usual tool for staying US non-resident.
Log both countries in the Day Tracker — it shows your US weighted days and Canadian days side by side.