Moving from Montreal to Houston: Taxes, Aerospace, and the Three-Authority Departure

Montreal to Houston runs on four separate talent pipelines at once, and none of them are new. The AI and gaming cluster built around Mila, the Element AI alumni network, and Samsung AI feeds into Houston’s own tech scene and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, while Ubisoft, WB Games, and Behaviour Interactive send developers into the city’s growing studio footprint. Montreal engineering firms route straight into ExxonMobil, Chevron, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton. Montreal’s pharma and biotech sector feeds the Texas Medical Center and MD Anderson, and Bombardier, CAE, and Pratt & Whitney alumni turn up at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, SpaceX, and Blue Origin. None of that changes what happens on the way out. Quebec’s combined top rate runs near 53.31%, the steepest in the country, and it applies in full on a departure return before Texas’s zero income tax ever enters the picture.

Why does Quebec’s tax rate collapse in Houston?

Because Texas doesn’t run a second income tax system at all, and no city inside it, Houston included, is allowed to layer one on top. Quebec’s five brackets top out at 25.75% provincially, combining with federal tax to a top marginal rate near 53.31%, the steepest of any province. Texas charges nothing at the state or municipal level, so the entire provincial layer disappears going forward, not just on salary but on RSUs, bonuses, and consulting income too.

	Montreal / Quebec	Houston / Texas
Provincial / state income tax	Up to 25.75%	None
City income tax	None	None (barred statewide)
Combined top marginal rate	About 53.31%	About 37% (federal only)
Sales tax	QST 9.975% + GST 5%, about 14.975%	6.25% state, up to 8.25% combined in Houston
Property tax (effective rate)	Below 1% of assessed value in most Quebec municipalities	2.0% to 2.5% in Harris County
Business tax	Quebec corporate tax plus QHSF payroll contribution	No income tax; franchise tax 0.375% to 0.75% on gross receipts above roughly $2.47M
Estate tax	None (deemed disposition at death instead)	None at the state level; federal estate tax can still apply

Which authorities close out a Montreal departure?

Three Canadian-side authorities, before the IRS or Texas ever enter the file. The CRA takes the final federal T1. Revenu Québec takes the final TP-1, covering worldwide income to your departure date and Quebec-source income after it, and issues Relevé slips, Relevé 1 for employment and Relevé 3 for investment income, in place of the T4 and T5 every other province uses.

• Anyone billing consulting income or drawing salary through a Quebec-incorporated company also carries a Health Services Fund (QHSF) account, the employer-side payroll contribution, roughly 1.25% to 4.26% of payroll, that needs its own wind-down separate from the CRA and Revenu Québec filings, and the federal departure mechanics, including Form T1161 and T1243, apply the same way regardless of destination; the full sequence sits in the leaving-Canada checklist.

Why does Montreal’s AI and gaming talent land in Houston?

Because Houston built a tech and energy-tech scene wide enough to absorb it. Mila, the Element AI alumni network, and Samsung AI Montreal have spent a decade training researchers who now show up in Houston’s growing AI and energy-tech roles, including at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which relocated its headquarters to the area. Ubisoft, WB Games, and Behaviour Interactive add a parallel gaming lane into Houston’s own studio footprint.

• A Mila credential or a shipped Ubisoft, WB Games, or Behaviour title reads as a known quantity to a Houston recruiter the same way it does in Austin or San Francisco, and the same tax mechanics apply no matter which lab or studio is hiring.

Why do Montreal engineers and physicians move to Houston?

Because Houston’s Energy Corridor and Texas Medical Center are where Montreal’s engineering and pharma pipelines actually lead. Engineers who cut their teeth on Quebec-based energy projects move directly into roles at ExxonMobil, Chevron, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton, often without changing which multinational project they’re on, just which office runs it. The Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world and anchored by MD Anderson, recruits researchers and physicians out of Montreal’s teaching hospitals and pharma companies.

Where does the Bombardier-to-NASA pipeline lead?

Straight into Houston’s aerospace cluster, which runs wider than NASA alone. Engineers with Bombardier, CAE, or Pratt & Whitney on their resume turn up at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and increasingly at SpaceX and Blue Origin, both of which recruit propulsion and systems engineers out of the same aviation and simulation talent pool Montreal has trained for decades.

What happens to QST and QHSF after you leave Quebec?

Both stop, on different schedules, and neither stops automatically. QST, at 9.975% stacked with 5% GST to about 14.975% combined, stops applying to your own purchases the day Quebec residency ends. Houston’s combined sales tax runs up to 8.25%, a real drop even before the income tax side is counted.

• A Quebec-incorporated business still registered for QST needs a formal deregistration with Revenu Québec, and a QHSF account tied to that same corporation needs its own closing filing, separate from the personal TP-1 and T1.

What happens to RAMQ coverage once you’re in Texas?

It winds down on notice, not automatically. RAMQ runs a reciprocal-coverage tail of roughly three months after you notify it of a permanent departure, and that notice has to be filed directly rather than assumed. Texas has no state health program to replace it; the move counts as a Special Enrollment Period event on the federal marketplace, giving 60 days from the move date to enroll in an employer plan or healthcare.gov coverage.

How does Harris County property tax compare to Montreal?

Higher on an ongoing basis, with no Quebec-style welcome tax on the way in. Harris County, plus whichever school district and city levy applies, typically brings the effective combined property tax rate to 2.0% to 2.5% of assessed value, well above most Quebec municipal rolls, which usually sit below 1%.

• There’s no Texas equivalent to Quebec’s welcome tax on purchase; the closing cost that replaces it is a small documentary recording fee, and a Texas homestead exemption can reduce the ongoing bill on a primary residence once a Texas ID and proof of occupancy are in place.

Does Texas charge any business or estate tax?

A franchise tax, not an income tax, and no estate tax at all. Texas charges a margin-based franchise tax of 0.375% to 0.75% on gross receipts above roughly $2.47 million, a threshold that rarely touches an individual W-2 employee or a small consulting operation. Texas has no state estate tax; the federal estate tax exemption still applies regardless of which state you land in.

Where do Montreal movers settle in Houston?

Mostly by employer cluster, not by neighborhood reputation. Energy Corridor and the adjacent Westchase and Briar Forest draw the oil and gas hires directly. Medical Center staff tend toward Memorial or River Oaks for proximity, aerospace engineers often land in Clear Lake near Johnson Space Center, and families chasing school districts lean toward The Woodlands or Sugar Land; the county a home sits in, Harris, Fort Bend, or Montgomery, matters more than the neighborhood name.

What should I do before the move?

Pin the departure date first, since it fixes the deemed-disposition rate and starts both the RAMQ and QHSF clocks. Pull a full year of RRSP statements and, if any consulting or side-company income runs through a Quebec corporation, get that entity’s QST and QHSF accounts ready to close alongside the personal TP-1 and T1. Then line up the Texas side: a part-year federal return, US health coverage inside the 60-day marketplace window, and a homestead application once the new home is bought.

• Moving from Canada to Texas, the parent guide for this corridor
• Moving from Quebec to Texas, the province-level version
• Moving from Quebec to the US, the general Quebec departure mechanics
• Moving from Toronto to Houston, the energy and Medical Center sibling corridor
• Moving from Calgary to Houston, the energy-sector sibling corridor from Alberta
• Moving from Ottawa to Houston, the government-to-energy sibling corridor
• Moving from Montreal to Austin, the AI and gaming sibling corridor into Texas
• Moving from Montreal to San Francisco, the other AI and deep learning corridor
• Moving from Montreal to Miami, the largest single rate-drop corridor from Quebec
• Canada’s departure tax, T1161 and T1243
• Leaving Canada permanently: the checklist
• RRSP and TFSA after moving to the US
• Provincial health insurance when leaving Canada
• Montreal to Dallas, the AI and aerospace corridor into Texas
• Montreal to Charlotte, the banking and aerospace corridor into North Carolina

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