Leaving Canada: what to sort out before you move abroad

For Canadians moving to Portugal, Mexico, Spain, the US, the UK or anywhere else. How you become a non-resident for tax, the departure tax, your final return, your RRSP and TFSA, provincial health cover, CPP and OAS, your passport and your vote.

Moving abroad changes your standing with Canada. You become a non-resident for tax, which brings a final return and possibly a departure tax. Your provincial health plan ends, sometimes on the day you leave.

1. Becoming a non-resident for tax

You become a non-resident when you cut your residential ties with Canada. The CRA treats three ties as significant:

• a home in Canada
• a spouse or common-law partner in Canada
• dependants in Canada

Secondary ties count too, such as a car or furniture in Canada, Canadian bank accounts or credit cards, a Canadian driver’s licence or passport, and provincial health insurance. The CRA considers all the relevant facts.

You usually become a non-resident on the latest of these dates:

• the date you leave Canada
• the date your spouse or common-law partner and dependants leave
• the date you become a resident of your new country

For the CRA’s opinion on your status, send Form NR73. It is optional, for people who “need help” determining their residency. If you are also resident in a country Canada has a tax treaty with, the treaty’s tie-breaker rules apply.

2. The departure tax

When you emigrate, the CRA treats you as having sold most of your property at its fair market value on the day you left. It then treats you as having bought it back at the same value. This is the “deemed disposition”. You report any gain on your final return.

Property that is exempt includes:

• Canadian real estate, resource property and timber resource property
• Canadian business property held through a permanent establishment in Canada
• registered plans, such as RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, RESPs, RDSPs and pension plans
• property you owned when you last became a resident, if you were resident for 60 months or less in the 10 years before you left

The forms:

• T1243 reports the gains or losses from the deemed disposition.
• T1161 lists your property inside and outside Canada. File it if everything you owned when you left was worth more than $25,000. Cash, registered plans, certain Canadian property and personal-use property worth less than $10,000 are left out of that count. You must file it by your filing due date, even if you do not otherwise have to file a return. The late penalty is $25 a day, with a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $2,500.
• T1244 lets you defer the tax until you actually sell the property. No interest applies. The election is due by 30 April of the year after you emigrate.

You must post security with the CRA if the federal tax you defer is more than $16,500 ($13,777.50 for former Quebec residents). Contact the CRA before 30 April to arrange it. Provincial or territorial security can still apply below those amounts.

3. Your final return as an emigrant

For the year you leave:

• Enter your departure date in the “Residence information” area on page 1 of your return.
• Use the tax package for the province or territory you lived in on the day you left.
• Report your world income for the part of the year you were resident.
• Report only certain Canadian income for the part of the year after you left. Other Canadian income has non-resident tax taken at source.

For 2025 returns, the filing and payment date was 30 April 2026. Self-employed people had until 15 June 2026 to file, but any balance was still due on 30 April. Check the CRA’s due dates page for the year you leave.

Tell the CRA the date you left, even if you do not have to file. Non-residents generally cannot receive the Canada child benefit or the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.

4. RRSPs, TFSAs and RESPs

RRSPs. Leaving does not cash out your RRSP, because registered plans are exempt from the deemed disposition. Withdrawals you make as a non-resident have 25% tax withheld, unless a tax treaty lowers the rate. You can elect under section 217 to file a return and may get some or all of it back.

TFSAs. You can keep your TFSA. Canada does not tax its income or your withdrawals, though your new country may. You earn no new contribution room for a year in which you are non-resident for the whole year. Any contribution you make while non-resident is taxed at 1% for each month it stays in the account. Withdrawals made while non-resident are added back as room only once you are resident again.

RESPs. A plan can only accept a contribution for a beneficiary who is resident in Canada. A beneficiary must also be resident in Canada to receive the Canada Education Savings Grant or Canada Learning Bond portion of an education payment.

5. Provincial health coverage

Each province sets its own rule for when coverage ends. The table gives the rules for Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Other provinces and territories differ, so check your own plan.

Quebec has social security agreements with a health component with 11 countries, including Portugal. If you move to one of them, RAMQ can give you an attestation of affiliation. It exempts you from the waiting period for that country’s health plan.

Arrange new cover before your plan ends. Our healthcare guide explains the options.

6. CPP and OAS abroad

• CPP. The retirement pension and other CPP benefits can be paid outside Canada.
• OAS. To be paid abroad, you must have lived in Canada for at least 20 years after age 18. You must also have been a citizen or legal resident the day before you left. Without that, payments may stop once you are outside Canada for more than six months.
• GIS. The Guaranteed Income Supplement is payable abroad for six months only.
• Social security agreements. These can combine your residence or contributions in Canada and another country to meet minimum requirements. They can also reduce limits on receiving payments abroad. Canada has agreements with Portugal, Mexico, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom, among others.

Non-resident tax on CPP and OAS is 25%, unless a tax treaty lowers or removes it. You may have to repay some or all of your OAS if your net income is over $93,454 (2025 figure).

7. Passport and voting

Passport. You can renew an adult passport from abroad, by mail or at a Government of Canada office. The service standard is 20 business days, plus mail time. Online renewal, opened to all eligible adults on 28 July 2026, covers adults in Canada.

Voting. Join the International Register of Electors to vote by mail in federal elections, by-elections and referendums. You qualify if you are a citizen aged 18 or over on polling day, live outside Canada and have lived in Canada at some point. There is no time limit on how long you have lived abroad. Elections Canada mails you a voting kit when an election is called.

8. What to tell your bank

Tell every Canadian bank, broker and pension payer that you are a non-resident and where you live. That sets the right withholding. Non-resident tax is usually 25% on dividends, rent and pensions, unless a treaty lowers it. Interest from a payer you are not related to is generally exempt. Our money guide covers accounts and transfers.

For the move itself, see our guides to Portugal, Mexico, Spain and the UK.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. For a view on your residency, ask the CRA. Confirm each rule on the official pages listed below before you act.