NR73 Form: Should You Ask the CRA to Decide Your Residency?

Do I need to file NR73 when leaving Canada?

No. Form NR73 is optional: the CRA says to complete it if you have left or plan to leave Canada and need help determining your residency status. You do not need it for a weekend or short trip (CRA: Form NR73). Your status comes from your facts, not from the form; the form only asks the CRA for its opinion of those facts (CRA: residency folio, paragraphs 1.54–1.55).

A case is not simple when you keep a home in Canada, a spouse or children stay behind, an employer has fixed your return date, or the new country also treats you as resident. The first three can tip the opinion towards "resident"; a treaty claim points towards "deemed non-resident". The answer drives your departure return, departure tax and every later Canadian return.

Gather before you decide:

• Your departure date and address abroad
• A list of ties you keep in Canada and ties you cut (home, family, car, licence, health coverage, accounts, memberships)
• Your employment contract and any return-to-work date
• Your lease or purchase papers for a home abroad
• Proof the other country taxes you as a resident, if it does

How the ties test works is covered in Canadian tax residency.

When does filing NR73 help, and when is it better not to send it?

NR73 helps most when your ties are genuinely mixed and you want the CRA's view before you file. It adds little when you have clearly cut every significant tie, and it can work against you when your own answers point to factual residence.

The trade-off is a record. Everything on a signed NR73 is a statement the CRA can compare with later returns and any review. The CRA says the opinion is "based entirely on the facts provided," so it is critical to give all the details of your ties in Canada and abroad (folio, paragraph 1.55).

Common traps:

• Gaps. A missing or unclear answer brings a letter from a CRA agent asking for more before the CRA gives its opinion (NR73).
• Calling a planned return "permanent". The form asks how long you expect to be away and whether you leave for good. A contract to work in Canada on return is evidence your return was foreseen (folio, paragraph 1.17).
• Ticking ties you have not settled. Decide what you keep (the house, the car, the provincial licence) before you answer, not after.

What does Form NR73 ask?

NR73 (edition 24, eight pages) asks for your reasons and timing, every tie you keep in Canada, every tie you build abroad, and your intentions (CRA: Form NR73).

The form notes that the CRA may ask for proof of residence from the other country, such as a foreign return or notice of assessment.

What answers can the CRA give?

The CRA can give an opinion that you are a factual resident, a non-resident, a deemed resident, or a deemed non-resident (CRA: Determining your residency status). A deemed resident is someone abroad whom the Act still treats as resident, mainly Canadian Forces members, federal or provincial government employees and some aid workers posted abroad, and their dependent children (Income Tax Act, s. 250(1)). A deemed non-resident is someone who would be resident under Canadian rules but is resident of the other country under a tax treaty (Income Tax Act, s. 250(5)). For how a treaty decides between two countries, see Canadian tax residency; if the other country is the US, see the treaty tie-breaker guide.

The opinion may also name a non-resident date. That date is usually the latest of when you leave, when your spouse or dependants leave, and when you become resident of the new country (folio, paragraph 1.22). Details are in the date you become a non-resident.

Is the CRA's NR73 answer binding?

No. The CRA states the opinion "is not binding on the CRA and may be subject to a more detailed review at a later date," when it can ask for supporting documents (folio, paragraph 1.55). The form's certification adds that you should contact the CRA if your situation changes.

An opinion therefore protects you only as far as the facts you gave stay true. If you later move back into the home you said was rented, or your spouse never joins you, the opinion no longer describes you. If the CRA already treats you as resident, see the CRA still thinks you are a resident.

Can I get a binding answer instead?

Rarely. The folio says the CRA's Income Tax Rulings Directorate may issue a binding advance income tax ruling on residency, generally only when all the facts can be known before you leave (folio, paragraph 1.56). But the CRA's rulings circular says the Directorate will generally not rule on primarily factual questions, naming residence, unless the request fully describes the supporting facts and evidence (IC70-6R12, paragraphs 19(h) and 19.1).

Source for the ruling column: CRA: IC70-6R12, paragraphs 13, 14 and 43. Because residence is mostly a question of fact, a ruling request is uncommon and may be declined; NR73 is the usual route.

How do I send NR73, and how long does it take?

The CRA does not publish a processing time on the form or in its residency folio; expect a letter with its opinion, or a request for more information, rather than a set date. Send one NR73 for each date you left Canada, by one of three routes (CRA: Form NR73):

If you left Canada more than once, a list of dates with a letter of explanation is acceptable when it gives enough to decide your status. If information is missing or unclear, a CRA agent sends you a letter. The CRA then gives its opinion from the form.

The form notes that if you are found to be a non-resident, you are expected to pay or post security for departure tax and tell Canadian payers that non-resident withholding may apply. See departure tax, step by step and the NR4 slip.

NR73 does not replace your departure return. See telling the CRA you are leaving Canada and leaving Canada.

What if my spouse or dependants are moving too?

NR73 asks about each family member's move, because a spouse or dependants who stay in Canada are significant ties. List a spouse or dependants staying in Canada under "Ties in Canada", and those leaving, or following later with a date, under "Ties in another country" (NR73).

A spouse or dependant who is leaving to join you can complete their own NR73 using the "Relationship" section. If they do not know your status, the form says to have you complete a copy of NR73 and send it with theirs.

Where a spouse or children leave later, the CRA generally treats your non-resident date as the date they leave (folio, paragraph 1.22). If you are returning to a country you lived in before coming to Canada, the date is generally the day you leave, even if your family stays to finish a school year (folio, paragraph 1.23). Different dates for each spouse are covered in spouses leaving Canada on different dates.

What if I already left, or already filed my departure return?

You can still send NR73 after you leave; the form is for people who "have left or are planning to leave". Answer as things actually are, not as you planned them.

If you already filed a departure return, compare it with your NR73 answers before sending. An opinion that you are still resident, or that you became non-resident on a different date, puts the filed return in question. If the two differ, the filed return may need to be changed, so compare them before the form goes in. If years have passed without telling the CRA, see left Canada without telling the CRA. If the CRA sent you a questionnaire you did not ask for, see the CRA residency questionnaire.

Example

These examples are illustrative; amounts are in Canadian dollars.

A two-year posting with the house kept

An engineer takes a two-year contract in Dubai. The Calgary house is rented to strangers at market rent with a written lease, the spouse moves too, and the employer guarantees a job on return. On NR73 the engineer must attach the contract, tick "guaranteed job available upon my return", and give an expected stay of two years. Those answers show a foreseen return, so the CRA gives more weight to any ties left in Canada (folio, paragraph 1.17). A home leased at arm's length may not count as a significant tie unless other ties go with it (folio, paragraph 1.12). If little else stays, the opinion could still be non-resident; a car, provincial health coverage or accounts kept can tip it to resident. Sending the form records these facts either way.

Retiring abroad for good

A retired couple sell their Toronto home and car, cancel provincial health coverage, and move to Portugal permanently, buying a flat there. Only a Canadian bank account and an RRSP remain. NR73 would add little: few ties are left to weigh, and the departure return records the date.

Spouse stays for the school year

A worker leaves Toronto in February for a job in Singapore. The spouse and children stay until the school year ends in June. NR73 asks for the spouse's and children's details under "Ties in Canada". Under the folio, the worker's non-resident date generally becomes June, when the family leaves, not February. This assumes the worker did not live in Singapore before coming to Canada; if they did and are going back, the folio generally keeps February. A treaty can also move the date earlier: if Singapore treats the worker as resident and the treaty tie-breaker places them there, the Act deems them non-resident from that time, family in Canada or not (Income Tax Act, s. 250(5)); see the date you become a non-resident. The departure return and departure tax then follow that later date, and the February-to-June salary falls in the resident part of the year.

Different for you?

• You keep a home in Canada, or your spouse stays: the ties analysis is close; review it before sending NR73 with individual tax help.
• Your return date is fixed by contract, or you are working abroad a few years: an NR73 will show a foreseen return; see working abroad for a few years and have the ties reviewed with individual tax help before you send it.
• Both countries treat you as resident: see Canadian tax residency (for the US, the treaty tie-breaker guide), and have the treaty position reviewed with individual tax help or, for the US, cross-border tax help.
• You keep a Canadian corporation or business: the form asks about it as a tie; see paying yourself from your corporation after moving abroad and corporation residency after the owner moves abroad, and get corporate tax help.
• You have no new home country: see digital nomads and Canadian tax residency.
• You already filed a departure return, or years have passed: have the filed returns reviewed with individual tax help before you send anything.