Do I pay Canadian tax if I live abroad?

Residency is a facts test, not a checkbox

Canada does not tax by citizenship. It taxes residents on worldwide income and non-residents on Canadian-source income only. Everything therefore turns on whether you actually ceased residence when you left.

The CRA looks first at significant ties: a dwelling kept available in Canada, a spouse or common-law partner here, and dependants here. Secondary ties — bank accounts, provincial health coverage, a driver's licence, memberships, personal property in storage — reinforce the picture. Leaving with a suitcase while your family stays in the family home almost never ends residency.

Where the facts are mixed and the other country also claims you, the tie-breaker rules in the applicable tax treaty decide the matter: permanent home first, then centre of vital interests, habitual abode, and nationality, in that order.

What non-residents still pay Canada

Ceasing residency does not end the relationship. Non-residents remain taxable on employment and business income earned in Canada, on dispositions of taxable Canadian property (with a Section 116 clearance certificate on sale), and — through flat Part XIII withholding — on Canadian rents, pensions, dividends and similar passive amounts.

The statutory withholding rate is 25%, reduced by many treaties to 15%, 10% or nil depending on the income type. Elective returns under Sections 216 (rental income) and 217 (pension income) frequently recover a large part of what was withheld.

The year you leave is its own project

The departure year return covers the resident part of the year plus departure-day consequences: the deemed disposition of most capital property (departure tax), forms T1161 and T1243 listing what you owned, and prorated credits. Getting the departure date right — and consistent with the story your ties tell — is the foundation for every later year.