Canadian Departure Tax Calculator

When you stop being a Canadian tax resident, the CRA treats most of your property as sold at fair market value on the day you leave, and taxes the gain. This calculator estimates that bill, shows which assets are excluded, and flags the forms your file would need. It's an estimate for planning, not tax advice for your specific situation.

Your property at departure

Non-registered investments (stocks, funds, crypto held outside RRSP and TFSA)

Private company shares (your incorporated business, if any)

Real estate OUTSIDE Canada (a foreign property is deemed sold; Canadian real estate is not)

Canadian real estate you will keep (NOT taxed on departure, but it still counts for the T1161 reporting form)

Your combined marginal tax rate in the departure year

I lived in Canada 60 months or less out of the last 120

Your estimate

Total deemed capital gain$0

Taxable portion (one half)$0

Estimated departure tax$0

Not deemed sold when you leave: RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, RESP and other registered accounts; Canadian real estate.

Assumptions this estimate makes: a single combined federal-plus-provincial rate that you selected; the current one-half capital gains inclusion rate; gains computed only on what you enter. It ignores provincial departure quirks, the US side of a move (including the treaty election that can reset your US cost basis), currency conversion, and any losses or carryforwards. Note on the $25,000 reporting test: foreign bank accounts and most other property also count toward Form T1161 even though this tool doesn't ask about them, so treat a missing T1161 flag as "maybe", not "no". A real departure file prices all of this properly.

How this calculator works (the actual rules)

The deemed disposition: on ceasing Canadian residence you are deemed to dispose of most property at fair market value and reacquire it at that value (Income Tax Act s. 128.1(4)(b) and (c)). Canadian real property and "excluded rights or interests" (RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs and other registered plans, s. 128.1(10)) sit outside the deemed sale.
The taxable half: one half of a capital gain is taxable (s. 38(a)).
Form T1161: required when the total fair market value of your reportable property exceeds $25,000 (s. 128.1(9)); a kept Canadian home escapes the deemed sale but still counts here. Personal-use items worth under $10,000 each stay off the T1161 list (they are still technically part of the deemed sale, though household goods rarely produce a taxable gain). The late-filing penalty is $25 a day, minimum $100, maximum $2,500 (s. 162(7)).
Deferring the bill: you can elect to pay the departure tax only when you actually sell, by your balance-due day for the departure year (s. 220(4.5), Form T1244); the CRA deems security accepted for roughly the first $16,500 of federal departure tax (s. 220(4.51)).
The short-term resident exception: if you were resident 60 months or less in the 120 months before leaving, property you owned when you last became a resident is generally not deemed sold (s. 128.1(4)(b)(iv)).
Full walk-throughs: what the departure tax is, the forms and a worked example, and the leaving-Canada checklist.

This tool provides general information and rough estimates only, not tax advice for your situation. Methodology checked against the statutes linked above; figures current to the 2026 filing year.

Canadian Departure Tax Calculator

Your property at departure

Your estimate

Email me this estimate's companion checklist

How this calculator works (the actual rules)

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