Canadian Non-Resident Tax Return: Who Files, Which Return

Once you’ve left Canada, you don’t file a Canadian return every year by default. You file for the year you left, and after that only when something pulls you back in: a Canadian job or business, a sale of taxable Canadian property, a refund you want, or an election to be taxed on net rent or on pension income. Most other Canadian income is settled by tax the payer withholds. This page is one part of the Leaving Canada guides, and it covers which return fits which income.

Do non-residents have to file a Canadian tax return?

Only in specific cases. The CRA says a non-resident must file if they have to pay tax or want a refund, and that tax withheld at source on income like dividends, rent and pensions is generally your final tax on it, so that income stays off any return (CRA, Non-residents of Canada). Whether you’re a non-resident at all comes first: how to become a non-resident of Canada covers the ties test.

Guide T4058’s triggers for a non-resident return include these (CRA, Guide T4058):

• the CRA sent you a request to file
• you have to pay tax or want a refund
• you realized a taxable capital gain or disposed of taxable Canadian property
• the CRA approved your Form NR5, which commits you to a section 217 return for each year it covers
• the CRA approved your Form NR6, which commits you to a section 216 return

The charging rule behind the Canadian-work and property-sale triggers is section 2(3) of the Income Tax Act: a person not resident in Canada pays Part I tax on taxable income earned in Canada if, in the year or a previous year, they were employed in Canada, carried on a business in Canada, or disposed of taxable Canadian property.

The same rules reach you if a treaty made you a deemed non-resident of Canada. The CRA says the same rules apply to deemed non-residents as to non-residents (CRA, Deemed residents of Canada).

What do I file for the year I leave Canada?

A regular T1 return for the province or territory you lived in on the day you left, with your departure date on page 1. It reports your world income for the part of the year you were resident and, for the rest of the year, only certain Canadian-source income. The CRA treats you as an emigrant here, and the departure tax forms ride on this return (CRA, Leaving Canada (emigrants)).

What changes on that return, per the CRA’s emigrant page and its dispositions page:

• Date of departure goes in the “Residence Information” area on page 1.
• Deemed disposition. You’re treated as having sold most property at fair market value on departure, reported on Form T1243 and Schedule 3 (CRA, Dispositions of property for emigrants). Canadian real estate, and registered plans such as RRSPs, RRIFs and TFSAs, are among the exceptions.
• Form T1161 if the fair market value of all property you owned when you left was more than $25,000. Cash, registered plans and personal-use items worth less than $10,000 each are left out of that count. A late T1161 costs $25 a day, minimum $100, maximum $2,500.
• Non-refundable credits are limited to the amounts for your resident period plus those that apply to your non-resident period.
• Provincial credits on Form 479 are generally not available unless you were a resident of Canada on December 31.

If you work it through and no return is due, the CRA still wants to know the date you left, as soon as possible. The full order of jobs for that year is in the leaving-Canada tax checklist.

Which Canadian income needs a non-resident return?

Income taxed under Part I: employment in Canada, a business carried on in Canada, taxable Canadian scholarships and grants, and gains on taxable Canadian property such as Canadian real estate. That income goes on a return, and any tax withheld on it counts against what you owe. Income hit by Part XIII withholding stays off the return unless you elect to file (CRA, Guide T4058).

Your Canadian income after you’ve left	Return required?	Which return	Due date
Employment duties performed in Canada, or a business carried on in Canada	Yes	T1 for non-residents (provincial package if earned in a province)	April 30; June 15 if you carried on a business, with any balance still due April 30
Sale of taxable Canadian property, such as Canadian real estate	Yes, in most cases, plus the section 116 certificate steps before or after the sale	Non-resident T1 with Schedule 3	April 30
Rent from Canadian real property	Optional, unless the CRA approved your NR6	Separate section 216 return (Guide T4144)	Two years after year end; six months (June 30) with an approved NR6
RRSP, RRIF, pension, CPP, OAS	Optional	Section 217 return (Schedule C)	June 30
Dividends, most interest, other Part XIII income	No	None, the withholding is final	n/a
Too much Part XIII withheld	No return	Form NR7-R refund application	Two years after the end of the year the payer sent the tax

On employment, section 115(1) builds a non-resident’s taxable income earned in Canada from duties performed in Canada, and from duties performed outside Canada at a time you were resident. T4058 also tells former residents who left before the year to report things like vacation pay or bonuses from a job they had while living here. On property sales, T4058 lists the conditions under which a non-resident with no tax payable doesn’t need a return, and a principal residence claim always needs one.

Does Part XIII withholding mean I don’t file?

Usually, yes. Canadian payers must withhold Part XIII tax on income like dividends, rent, pensions, CPP, OAS, RRSP and RRIF payments, at 25% unless a treaty cuts the rate. If the right amount comes off, the CRA says that’s your final tax on the income, and you don’t put it on a return (CRA, Non-residents of Canada).

• The 25% rate is in section 212(1). Arm’s-length interest is generally exempt from Canadian withholding.
• Your payers report each year’s amounts on an NR4 slip. The rates by income type, and the treaty forms that get you a lower rate, are in what Part XIII withholding takes when you leave.
• Over-withholding isn’t fixed by filing a return. The CRA says Part XIII tax “is not refundable by way of filing a Canadian tax return.” You apply on Form NR7-R, generally no later than two years after the end of the calendar year the payer sent the tax to the CRA (Guide T4058).
• The exceptions are the elective returns below, where the withheld tax counts toward the bill and any excess comes back.
• OAS has its own annual filing: you may have to file the Old Age Security Return of Income each year you receive it.

Is a section 216 or 217 return worth filing?

Often, when the withholding is on gross amounts and your real income is lower. A section 216 return lets you pay tax on net Canadian rent instead of 25% of the gross. A section 217 return lets you pay tax on pension-type income, RRSP and RRIF payments included, at the same rate as Canadian residents (CRA, Electing under section 217). Either way, the CRA refunds any withheld tax above what the return works out (CRA, Guide T4058).

The section 216 return is separate from any other Canadian return you file, and it carries only the rent (CRA, Non-residents of Canada). Under section 216(1), rent is your only income on it and you get no personal credits. You file within two years after the year ends, or within six months if you filed an NR6 undertaking. The NR6 route and the section 216 mechanics are in the NR6 and section 216 guide.

A section 217 election has to be on a return filed within six months after the year ends (section 217(2)), so June 30. The CRA says it can’t accept a late section 217 election (CRA, Guide T4145). Whether it pays turns on your world income, and the section 217 math runs the break-even.

The 14% is the CRA’s 2026 federal first-bracket rate, and T4144 confirms the section 216 return computes federal tax plus the non-resident surtax (CRA, Guide T4144).

Do non-residents pay provincial tax or a surtax?

It depends on where the income was earned. Employment or business income earned in a province is taxed with that province’s Form 428. Other Canadian-source income on a non-resident return, such as capital gains on taxable Canadian property, pays federal tax plus the surtax for non-residents instead of provincial tax. Earning in more than one province, or mixing provincial income with those other types, needs Form T2203 (CRA, Guide T4058).

The surtax is in section 120(1): 48% of federal tax, scaled by the share of your income that wasn’t earned in a province. For someone who doesn’t live in Canada at any time in the year, Income Tax Regulation 2602 counts only employment duties performed in a province and business income earned there as income earned in a province. Everything else on the return carries the surtax.

How, where and when do non-residents file?

Mostly on paper. The CRA’s electronic filing service for preparers takes emigrant returns, except those carrying Form T1243, T1244 or T1161, but it excludes non-resident returns unless filed under section 116, and it excludes section 216 returns and section 217 schedules (CRA, RC4018 Chapter 1). Paper returns from US residents go to the Winnipeg Tax Centre.

• Where. The CRA’s mailing page sends non-resident returns from the USA, the UK, France, the Netherlands and Denmark to Winnipeg, and other countries to Sudbury. Because of international mail delays, the CRA is temporarily accepting non-resident returns by fax.
• Which package. Employment or business income only: the package for the province where you earned it, with Guide T4058. Capital gains, scholarships, section 217 returns: the Income Tax Package for Non-Residents and Deemed Residents of Canada. Rent under section 216: the return inside Guide T4144.
• When. April 30 of the following year, or June 15 if you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business in Canada, with any balance owing still due April 30 (section 150(1)(d); CRA, Non-residents of Canada). Section 216 and 217 returns follow their own dates above.

Next steps

List every Canadian payment you expect this year and who pays it. Put each one in a row of the table above. If a row says “required,” that return is on your calendar. If it says “optional,” run the number before the deadline passes, because the section 217 date doesn’t move.

This guide is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Which points apply, and how, depends on your facts.