Where do I start as a non-resident student in Canada?
Start with dates and documents rather than with forms. Four items decide most of these files: when you arrived, when your programme formally began and ends, what your funding award actually says, and what your presence is permitted for. Collect those first, because every later step is argued from them — whether your study days sit outside the residency count, whether an exempt period applies and when it closes, and which elements of your funding it reaches. Gathering them in your first term takes an afternoon. Reconstructing them in your third year takes weeks.
Which dates matter most for a student tax position?
The date you arrived, the date the programme began, and the dates any exempt period starts and ends under the relevant article. Those bracket everything. Then two that people forget: the date any paid work began, because remuneration is treated differently from a scholarship or grant, and the dates any break in your presence started and finished, since a spell abroad can divide one stay into two. Write them down with a source beside each — an offer letter, an immigration stamp, an enrolment record — and the position becomes a matter of reading rather than recalling.
Should I speak to my university or the tax authority first?
The university, because it holds the documents and the tax position is built out of them. Its registry can confirm enrolment dates and programme length; the finance or payroll office can say exactly what each element of your funding is and how it is reported. Neither of them decides your tax position, and neither should be asked to. Once you have the paperwork, the position is stated in a filing, and that is the point at which the tax authority hears from you, with the evidence already attached rather than promised.
What records should I keep from my first term onwards?
Keep the offer and enrolment letters, the full funding award including any variation to it, your immigration documents, and a simple record of every departure from and return to the country. Add the payment advices for anything you are paid and the appointment letter for any teaching or assisting work. None of it is exotic. The difficulty is that it is issued once, by different offices, and is hard to obtain later. A folder kept from the first term is what turns these claims from an argument into a document you hand over.
Can I still fix a student exemption I missed last year?
Often yes. Each year stands on its own and each has its own limit, so the question is which years are still open rather than whether a mistake is permanent. Begin with the oldest year you think was wrong, since that is the one closest to falling away. The evidence needed is the same evidence the current year needs, which means one gathering exercise serves both. What you should not do is correct the past and leave the present unclaimed: the filing for the year now running is the one you still control.
Is my study permit the same thing as my tax residency?
No, and confusing the two is the commonest starting error. Immigration status describes what you are permitted to do in the country. Tax residency is a separate test, largely about presence and ties, and the two can point in different directions. The concession that may help you runs through the tax rules, not the permit: presence as a student or trainee can sit outside the residency count, but only where that position is stated in a filing. Your permit is evidence of the purpose of your presence, not a substitute for making the claim.
Do non-residents pay US estate tax?
Yes, on US-situs assets — and with a far smaller exemption than a US citizen or domiciliary receives, which is why exposure can arise at values people assume are safe. US real property, tangible property located there and shares issued by US companies are generally in; foreign-issued securities and certain deposits generally are not. An estate tax treaty, where one exists, can improve the position considerably. See US estate tax for non-resident aliens.
How does the treaty tie-breaker work when both countries say I am resident?
As a sequence, stopping at the first test that gives an answer: where you have a permanent home available; if in both or neither, where your centre of vital interests is; then habitual abode; then nationality; and if all of those tie, the two tax authorities decide by agreement. It is evidential rather than elective — you do not choose your treaty residence, you demonstrate it, which makes the record of homes, family and time the substance of the claim. See tie-breaking dual residency.
