Free · cited to the CRA
Leaving Canada
Leaving Canada is not a date on a boarding pass. It is a test about ties, and it triggers a tax bill on assets you have not sold. This is the whole record, cited, before anyone personalises it for you.
Sources verified 2026-08-03
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When you stop being a tax resident
Residency is decided on facts, not on your intention or your flight date. The CRA weighs your ties to Canada against the life you have built somewhere else.
- Both, not either
You are an emigrant only if you both leave Canada to live in another country and sever your residential ties with it. Keep the ties and you are usually still a factual resident, taxed on your worldwide income.
- 3 significant
Significant residential ties are a home in Canada, a spouse or common-law partner in Canada, and dependants in Canada. Secondary ties include personal property, social and economic ties, a Canadian driver's licence, a Canadian passport, and provincial health insurance.
- The latest of 3
Your non-residence begins on the latest of three dates: the day you leave, the day your spouse or common-law partner and dependants leave, and the day you become a resident of the country you settle in. The last one to happen is the one that counts.
- 183 days
Stay 183 days or more in a year without significant residential ties and you can still be a deemed resident. Under 183 days with no significant ties points the other way.
- Treaty override
If you establish ties in a country Canada has a tax treaty with and are resident there, you may be a deemed non-resident even while you remain a factual resident of Canada. The same rules then apply to you as to non-residents.
What leaving costs
Canada charges you on the way out. On the day you cease residence you are treated as having sold most of what you own at market value, and taxed on the gain, whether or not anything was sold.
- Deemed sale
On ceasing residence you are deemed to have disposed of most property at fair market value and to have immediately reacquired it for the same amount. The resulting capital gain is what people mean by departure tax.
- Registered plans exempt
Canadian real property, Canadian business property held through a permanent establishment, and registered plans including RRSPs, RRIFs, RESPs and TFSAs are outside the deemed disposition. Your registered accounts are not caught by it.
- 60 months
If you were a resident of Canada for 60 months or less during the 10 years before you left, property you owned when you last became a resident, or inherited afterward, is also outside the deemed disposition.
- April 30
You can elect to defer paying the tax on the deemed disposition, at any amount, and pay it without interest when you actually sell. The election is Form T1244 and it is due by April 30 of the year after you emigrate.
- CAD 16,500
If you defer and the federal tax on the deemed disposition is more than CAD 16,500, you have to post adequate security to cover it. For former Quebec residents the threshold is CAD 13,777.50.
- Reversible
If you later re-establish Canadian residency you can elect to unwind a deemed disposition you already reported, reducing the gain you declared on departure.
Leaving is half the question.
Everything above is the published record, and it is true of anyone leaving Canada. Whether it is worth paying depends on the other half: where you would go, which residence routes you actually qualify for, and when living there starts making you tax resident there.
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What you have to file, and when
The filings are where the avoidable money is lost. One of them carries a daily penalty and is due even if you owe no tax and file no return.
- CAD 25,000
If the fair market value of everything you owned on the day you left was more than CAD 25,000, you must file Form T1161 listing your property inside and outside Canada. Cash, bank deposits and registered plans are excluded from the count, as is personal-use property worth under CAD 10,000 an item.
- CAD 25/day
Filing Form T1161 late costs CAD 25 for each day it is late, with a minimum of CAD 100 and a maximum of CAD 2,500. It is due on your filing date even if you do not have to file a return at all.
- T1243
Form T1243 calculates the gain on the deemed disposition, and that figure carries onto Schedule 3 of your return for the year you left.
- Province on exit
Your date of departure goes on page 1 of the return, and you file using the package and Form 428 for the province or territory where you lived on that date, not where you live now.
- Split year
You report worldwide income for the part of the year you were resident, and only Canadian-source income for the part you were not.
- Notify payers
If you keep Canadian bank accounts or are paid from Canada, you are required to tell those payers and institutions that you are no longer a resident.
The four that catch people
- Latest of 3
Non-residence starts on the latest of your departure, your family's departure, and the date you become resident abroad.
- CAD 25,000
Property worth more than this on the day you leave has to be listed on Form T1161, inside and outside Canada.
- April 30
The deferral election on departure tax is due by April 30 of the year after you emigrate, and it is interest-free until you sell.
- CAD 25/day
Late Form T1161 costs this per day, to a maximum of CAD 2,500.
What people get wrong about leaving Canada
Each of these is something a confident search result will tell you. Each is wrong, and the rule that corrects it is named.
Commonly believed
“I sold everything before I left, so there is no departure tax.”What the rule says
Departure tax is charged on a deemed sale of what you still hold on the day you cease residence, so selling first does not avoid it. It changes when the gain is realised, not whether it is. Selling early can crystallise the same gain a year sooner and inside a Canadian resident tax year.Dispositions of property for emigrants of Canada, Canada Revenue Agency
Commonly believed
“I left in March, so I stopped being a tax resident in March.”What the rule says
Your non-residence begins on the latest of three dates, not on the day you flew. If your spouse and children stay until July, or you do not become resident in the new country until September, that later date is the one that governs, and the months in between are still worldwide-income months.Leaving Canada (emigrants), Canada Revenue Agency
Commonly believed
“I closed my bank account and cancelled my licence, so my ties are severed.”What the rule says
Those are secondary ties. The significant ones are a home in Canada, a spouse or common-law partner in Canada, and dependants in Canada. Keeping the house while cancelling the driver's licence addresses the weaker half of the test and leaves the stronger half intact.Determining your residency status, Canada Revenue Agency
Commonly believed
“My TFSA has to be closed before I go.”What the rule says
You can keep a TFSA as a non-resident and it stays exempt from Canadian tax on its income and withdrawals. What stops is contributing: you cannot contribute while non-resident and your contribution room does not grow. Registered plans are also outside the deemed disposition entirely.Leaving Canada (emigrants), Canada Revenue Agency
Commonly believed
“If I owe no tax, I do not have to file anything.”What the rule says
Form T1161 is due on your filing date even when you do not have to file a return, and late filing runs at CAD 25 a day to a CAD 2,500 maximum. It is the most common avoidable cost of leaving Canada.Dispositions of property for emigrants of Canada, Canada Revenue Agency
Questions people ask about leaving Canada
- Does the CRA decide my residency, or do I?
Neither, on its own. Residency turns on the facts of your case: your residential ties, and the length, purpose, intent and continuity of your stay in and out of Canada. If you want the CRA's own opinion in writing before you go, Form NR73 is the request for it.
- Can I spread the departure tax rather than paying it all at once?
You can elect to defer payment on the whole amount, and pay it without interest when you actually dispose of the property. The election is Form T1244, due by April 30 of the year after you emigrate, and above CAD 16,500 of federal tax on the deemed disposition you have to post security.
- What happens to Canadian income after I leave?
Canadian payers withhold non-resident tax on certain kinds of Canadian-source income, and that withholding is normally your final obligation. Electing under section 217 lets you file a return instead and be taxed at resident rates, which can produce a refund of the tax withheld.
- Do my benefits continue?
Generally no. As a non-resident you are not eligible for the GST/HST credit or the Canada child benefit. If payments keep arriving after you leave, that is something to raise with the CRA rather than something to bank.
- Can I deduct the cost of the move?
Generally not for a move out of Canada. The narrow exception is leaving to study full-time at a post-secondary institution abroad while holding a taxable Canadian scholarship, bursary, fellowship or research grant.
This is the general record. Your dates are what make it a plan.
Everything above is true of anyone leaving Canada, which is why it is free. What it cannot tell you is which of these applies to you, in what order, against your assets and the date you actually go. That sequencing is the Exit Plan, and it is offered alongside a verified plan, because the plan is what gets checked first.
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OmniFlag helps you research and plan. It is not a law firm or tax advisor and does not give legal or tax advice. Confirm anything you act on with a licensed professional before you file it.