Form NR73: Should You File It When You Leave Canada?

Usually not. Form NR73, Determination of Residency Status (Leaving Canada), is something you complete if you “need help determining your residency status,” and what comes back is the CRA’s opinion, which the CRA says isn’t binding on it (CRA, Form NR73; Folio S5-F1-C1, 1.55). If you made a clean break, your departure-year return does the job. NR73 earns its place when your ties point both ways. The Leaving Canada hub has the rest of the move.

Do I have to file Form NR73 when I leave Canada?

No. Every CRA description of the form is conditional or permissive. The form page says to complete it if you need help determining your residency status, the CRA’s residency page says to complete it “if you want the CRA’s opinion,” and the residency folio says people leaving “should consider” it (Folio 1.54). None of them attaches a deadline or a penalty to it.

The filing obligation that does exist is the return. Section 150(1) of the Income Tax Act requires a return of income “without notice or demand,” and the CRA’s Leaving Canada page tells emigrants to enter their date of departure on page 1 of that return. That’s how you “declare” non-residence. There’s no separate application, as our guide on how to become a non-resident of Canada explains.

The form’s instructions also say you don’t have to complete it if you usually live in Canada and are only leaving for a weekend or a short trip (Form NR73 E (24), page 1). That carve-out doesn’t make it mandatory for everyone else.

When does filing Form NR73 help?

It helps when your facts genuinely point two ways and you want the CRA’s view before you file. The CRA’s own residency decision tool sends people to NR73 on most of its leaving branches, including for an opinion on whether you’d be a factual resident or a deemed non-resident “based off the treaty and tie-breaker rules.” Being sent there by the tool doesn’t mean you must file.

Your situation	Does NR73 help?	What to do
Clean break: home sold or rented out, spouse and children moved with you, new home abroad	Little. The opinion would repeat facts that already point one way	File the departure-year return with your departure date, and Form T1161 if the property you owned when you left was worth more than $25,000
You kept significant ties (a home available to you, a spouse or dependants in Canada)	Yes. Those ties usually keep you a factual resident (Folio 1.10 to 1.13), so a CRA read is worth having	Complete NR73 fully, with every tie on both sides
You kept ties but you’re treaty-resident in the US or another treaty country	Yes. The tool says to complete NR73 for an opinion on whether you’d be a deemed non-resident	Read up on deemed non-residence first, then file NR73 if the answer still isn’t clear
A large departure tax bill turns on the date and you need certainty before you go	Not really. The opinion isn’t binding	Ask about a binding advance income tax ruling, which the Rulings Directorate may issue in appropriate circumstances, generally only where all the facts are known before the departure (Folio 1.56)
Canada and another country both claim you	Only for the Canadian view	Competent Authority Services handles residency issues with treaty countries (Folio 1.57)
Weekend or short trip	No	Nothing to file

Is filing ever a risk? The form doesn’t create tax, but the opinion is “based entirely on the facts provided by the taxpayer” (Folio 1.55). If you’re careless with the ties checklist or the intention question, the opinion you get back is built on those answers, and the CRA can ask for supporting documents later.

What does Form NR73 ask?

The current version is NR73 E (24), eight pages (PDF). Most of it is about ties: why you’re leaving, how long you expect to be away, where you usually live, who went with you and who stayed, what you keep in Canada and what you’ve set up in the new country. You complete one for each date you left Canada, and the CRA will write to you if something is missing.

In order, the form covers:

• Identification: name, SIN, date of departure, the country you’ll live in, marital status, and your address abroad.
• Leaving Canada: your reason (employment, retirement, joining a spouse and so on), how long you expect to be away, or that you’ve left permanently.
• Relationship and employment: questions for spouses and dependants of someone leaving, and special cases such as Canadian Forces members, government employees and missionaries.
• Statement of residency: whether you’re resident in the other country under a tax treaty and taxed there on world income. The CRA may ask for proof, such as a foreign tax return or IRS Form 6166.
• Ties in Canada: a long tick-list, from a dwelling you keep and how it’s rented, to bank accounts, credit cards, RRSPs, a provincial driver’s licence, provincial health coverage, memberships and a Canadian phone number.
• Intention: “Do you intend to return to Canada to live?” and “What are your long-term goals?”
• Ties in another country: your dwelling, possessions, licence, passport, medical coverage, memberships and investments abroad, and every country you visited in the year.
• Certification, where the form itself says the CRA uses the information “to give an opinion on your residency status.”

The form also warns that if you’re found to be a non-resident, you’re expected to pay or post security for departure tax and tell Canadian payers you may be subject to non-resident withholding.

Is the CRA’s NR73 opinion binding?

Not on the CRA. The folio says the opinion is based entirely on the facts you provide, “is not binding on the CRA and may be subject to a more detailed review at a later date,” and that supporting documents may be required then (Folio S5-F1-C1, 1.55). It also says that “in most cases” the CRA will be able to give one.

The CRA’s residency tool uses the phrase “official residency determination” on some branches. That describes the channel, not the legal force; the form and the folio both call the result an opinion. Your residence still turns on all the facts, and the date you become a non-resident is a question of fact too. Generally it’s the latest of the day you leave, the day your spouse or partner and dependants leave, and the day you become resident in the new country. If you were resident somewhere else before coming to Canada and are going back there, it’s generally the day you leave (Folio 1.22 and 1.23).

If you need an answer that binds, the folio points to an advance income tax ruling from the Income Tax Rulings Directorate, available in appropriate circumstances and generally only where all the facts can be known before you leave (Folio 1.56).

How long does the CRA take to process NR73?

The CRA doesn’t publish a service standard for NR73. Its processing times page lists returns, adjustments, relief requests and many other items, but no residency determinations. What the form does say is that if information is missing or needs clarifying, a CRA agent will send you a letter, which adds time.

That has a practical effect. Your return is due on its normal date whether or not an NR73 opinion has come back, so don’t hold the departure return waiting for one. The non-resident tax return guide covers what’s due and when.

How do I send Form NR73 to the CRA?

You have three options, all listed on page 1 of the form. Online, you or your representative can scan the form and supporting documents and upload them through My Account or Represent a Client, using the “Submit documents” service. By mail, send it to the Sudbury Tax Centre, PO Box 20000, Station A, Sudbury ON P3A 5C1. By fax, send it to 705-671-0794.

For help, the form points to Folio S5-F1-C1 and the CRA at 1-800-959-8281 from Canada and the US, or 613-940-8495 from elsewhere. The French version is the formulaire NR73, and the mirror form for people arriving is Form NR74.

Worked example: two people leaving the same year

What do I file instead of NR73?

The departure-year return is the filing that matters. For the year you leave, you report world income for the part of the year you were resident and only certain Canadian-source income after that, using the tax package for the province you lived in on the day you left. You enter your departure date on page 1, complete Form T1161 if the property you owned when you left was worth more than $25,000, and report any deemed disposition (CRA, Leaving Canada).

The same page says that if you still have Canadian bank accounts or payments coming from Canada, you’re required to tell those payers and your financial institutions you’re no longer resident. If it turns out you don’t have to file a return, let the CRA know your departure date as soon as possible. Deemed non-residents are subject to the same rules as emigrants.

From there:

• Departure tax and Forms T1161 and T1243
• Am I still a Canadian tax resident?, for the order the residency tests run in
• The leaving-Canada checklist, step by step

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