Moving from Montreal to New York: Taxes, the TP-1, and Three Tax Authorities

By Yarik Yarosh, CPA ·August 31, 2026 ·9 min read

Written by Yarik Yarosh, CPA (US & Canada) August 31, 2026 · FL CPA license AC61704 · CPA Ontario

Montreal to New York is a specific corridor, not a generic Quebec-to-US move. Ubisoft, EA, and Warner Bros Games built studios in Montreal on the back of provincial tax credits, and that talent pipeline runs straight into NYC’s own gaming and media companies. Trading desks and asset managers run the same pattern into Wall Street. Layer on a workforce that’s already bilingual, often English-dominant in the finance and tech sectors, and the move reads as low-friction on the surface. The tax side is where the friction actually sits.

✓Key takeaway

Quebec’s combined top rate runs about 53.31%, New York City’s about 51%. That’s only a two-point gap, nowhere near the drop you’d see moving to Texas or Florida. The real complexity isn’t the rate, it’s that the departure year runs through three tax authorities (the CRA, Revenu Québec, and the IRS) before New York State and City even enter the picture, and Quebec issues Relevé slips instead of T4s and T5s for the provincial side.

Why does this specific corridor exist?

Two industries drive it. Gaming and tech: Ubisoft Montreal, EA Montreal, and Warner Bros Games Montreal have trained a generation of developers and producers who move on to NYC studios, streaming companies, and ad-tech firms once they’ve built a resume. Finance: Montreal’s trading desks and asset management shops feed Wall Street directly, the same way they’ve fed Toronto and Calgary for decades. Both lanes draw from a workforce where English is already the working language day to day, even in a majority-French city, so the cultural adjustment is smaller than the corridor’s geography suggests.

How close are the combined tax rates really?

Closer than most cross-border moves. Quebec’s combined federal-plus-provincial top marginal rate lands around 53.31%. New York’s combined state-plus-city top rate for a New York City resident runs about 51%, versus roughly 45% for someone who lands outside the five boroughs. That’s a two-point gap, not the ten-to-twenty-point drop you’d see moving from Quebec to Texas or Florida. Anyone expecting a tax windfall from this move is looking at the wrong number.

	Montreal / Quebec	New York City
Combined top marginal rate	~53.31%	~51% (NYC resident)
City/local income tax	None (provincial only)	Up to 3.876% (NYC residents)
Sales tax	QST 9.975% + GST 5%, ~15% combined	~8.875%
Separate tax authority	Yes, Revenu Québec	No, runs through NY State
Self-employment add-on	QPP, QPIP	UBT (4%), MTA mobility tax

What actually changes on everyday cost of living?

Sales tax drops, which is the opposite of the income tax story. Quebec’s combined QST and GST run near 15% on most purchases. New York City’s combined sales tax is about 8.875%. That’s real savings on everyday spending, running in the opposite direction from the two-point income tax gap. Housing is the wildcard: a Plateau or Mile End rent has no real Manhattan or Brooklyn equivalent at the same price, and that gap usually swamps both tax comparisons on a monthly budget.

Which three tax authorities apply in the move year?

The CRA, Revenu Québec, and the IRS, and that’s before New York enters the picture. The final TP-1 goes to Revenu Québec, covering worldwide income to your departure date and Quebec-source income after. The final T1 goes to the CRA, covering the same period on the federal side. The IRS gets a US return, dual-status or full-year under the first-year election. Add New York State’s part-year resident return, and New York City tax rides along on that same state return once you’re inside the five boroughs. Five filings from one move, if you count the city as riding on the state return rather than a separate one.

What replaces my T4 and T5 on the way out?

Relevé slips. Quebec issues its own slips for the provincial return: the Relevé 1 for employment income (the provincial counterpart to the T4) and the Relevé 3 for investment income (the counterpart to the T5). Your employer and your bank issue both the federal slip and the Quebec slip separately, on separate timelines, and a partial-year Montreal employer needs to issue a partial-year Relevé 1 alongside the partial-year T4. Miss the Relevé and the TP-1 can’t be completed even if the T1 is ready to go.

How steep is Quebec’s departure tax before New York?

Quebec’s provincial bracket tops out at 25.75% on income over roughly $126,000, the steepest top provincial rate in Canada, and it applies to the Quebec-source portion of any deemed-disposition gain under ITA 128.1(4) the same way it applies to ordinary income. The federal deemed disposition rules don’t change based on which province you’re leaving, but the rate the gain gets taxed at on the provincial side is higher here than anywhere else in the country. The departure tax forms guide covers the T1161 and T1243 mechanics, which apply here without modification.

What happens to RAMQ, RRQ, and my RRSP?

RAMQ coverage doesn’t end automatically when you leave. Notify the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec directly once your departure date is set; provincial health coverage runs on its own notice requirement separate from anything you file with Revenu Québec or the CRA. RRQ, Quebec’s version of CPP, keeps paying on its existing schedule after you move, and the treaty treats it exactly like CPP for a US resident: taxable only in the US once you’re a US tax resident. Your RRSP carries over the same way it would for any departing Canadian, and New York follows the federal treaty treatment, no state-level addback of untaxed RRSP growth, unlike California. The RRSP and TFSA moving-to-the-US guide covers withdrawal mechanics and Part XIII withholding.

Does self-employment income pick up anything new in NYC?

Yes, two things Quebec doesn’t have. New York City’s Unincorporated Business Tax runs 4% on self-employment and unincorporated business income earned in the city, on top of the state and city personal income tax. The Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax applies to self-employment earnings allocated to the MTA region as well. Neither replaces anything Quebec charged; both stack on top of what a self-employed Montreal trader or contractor was already paying through QPP and QPIP, just under a different name and a different agency.

Hypothetical example

Invented numbers. A gameplay producer at Ubisoft Montreal takes a role at a streaming company’s NYC studio, moving from a Plateau apartment to a Brooklyn lease in June, with $145,000 in Quebec salary before the move and a $190,000 US salary after.

Quebec side: she files a final TP-1 reporting worldwide income to her June departure date, using her Relevé 1 for the partial-year salary, alongside her federal T1. The Quebec abatement gets prorated to the months she was a Quebec resident. No property gain applies since she rented in Montreal, so the departure tax mechanics don’t touch her here.

New York side: her Brooklyn lease sits inside the five boroughs, so she’s a part-year New York State and New York City resident from June. Her US return is dual-status or full-year by election, and the foreign tax credit on it absorbs the Quebec-and-federal tax she paid on her pre-move salary.

Three tax authorities before New York, four filings once New York State and City are counted, and none of them tax the same dollar twice. What changes is the paperwork, not the math.

Illustrative numbers only, not a real client and not advice for your facts.

What should I do next?

Close the Quebec side first. Confirm your departure date, get both the T4/T1 and Relevé/TP-1 slip sets, notify RAMQ directly, and prorate the Quebec abatement to the months you were actually resident. Then build the New York side: confirm New York State and City residency once you have a lease, and decide between a dual-status and full-year US election before you file anything with the IRS.

Moving from Quebec to New York, the province-level version of this corridor
Moving from Quebec to the US, the full Quebec departure mechanics
Moving from Quebec to California, where the RRSP treatment is worse
Moving from Quebec to Texas, the no-state-income-tax comparison
Moving from Quebec to Florida, the other no-income-tax comparison
Moving from Canada to New York, the generic corridor from any province
Moving from Toronto to New York, the state and city residency tests in depth
Moving from Ontario to New York, the other major inbound Canadian corridor
Cross-border tax accountant in Montreal, the Quebec-specific filing details behind this page
The Canadian departure tax and its forms
The leaving-Canada checklist
RRSP and TFSA moving to the US
The US-Canada tax treaty explained
Your first US tax return as a new immigrant
Provincial health insurance and leaving Canada, the RAMQ notice mechanics
State income tax and the treaty, why New York isn’t bound by the federal treaty the way the IRS is
Montreal to Miami, the no-state-income-tax comparison from Quebec
Montreal to Boston, the biotech and academic corridor
Montreal to Chicago, the flat-tax Midwest corridor from Quebec
Montreal to Los Angeles, the VFX and entertainment corridor
Montreal to San Francisco, the AI and deep learning corridor

Planning a move from Montreal to New York?

The Cross-Border Assessment is a fixed $250. You get a written, CPA-reviewed plan covering your TP-1 and T1, the departure tax at Quebec's top rate, and what your first New York State and City returns will actually take.

Book a free call →

Get the next cross-border guide by email

One or two plain-English guides a week on US-Canada tax. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Cite this page

Yarik Yarosh, CPA. "Moving from Montreal to New York: Taxes, the TP-1, and Three Tax Authorities." Blue Cloud CPA, August 31, 2026. https://bluecloudcpa.com/guides/moving-from-montreal-to-new-york-taxes

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