,,,it is whether you are "a resident of Canada for tax purposes" that is the test.
If you are offshore, it depends on your ties to Canada which determines tax residency. These ties include whether your still own property, personal or real estate, bank accounts, memberships to professional organizations etc. The more ties the greater the chances that the revenue department will determine if they consider your a resident for tax purposes.
That being said, the ultimate decision for the determination lies with the courts.If it were up to the CRA no-one would lose their tax residency status. The list of the "ties" that bind is acodification of what exists in the court's caselaw, and your best bet is to contact a tax lawyer who can make an assessment for you. There are accountants who are up to speed on this, but 95% of them call their tax-lawyer buddy to see what the state of the law is at any given moment.
Further, it is not necessarily best to ask for a determination from the CRA as regards your status. If there is any way they can keep you hooked, they will. If they make a determination that your are still liable to pay taxes, then you have to fight that too if you are trying to be otherwise....retain good legal counsel to give you an opinion,,,,if anything goes wrong afterwards the lawyer will have an insurance program to protect you most likely....
Bonne chance!
MJM
,,,it is whether you are "a resident of Canada for tax purposes" that is the test.
If you are offshore, it depends on your ties to Canada which determines tax residency. These ties include whether your still own property, personal or real estate, bank accounts, memberships to professional organizations etc. The more ties the greater the chances that the revenue department will determine if they consider your a resident for tax purposes.
That being said, the ultimate decision for the determination lies with the courts.If it were up to the CRA no-one would lose their tax residency status. The list of the "ties" that bind is acodification of what exists in the court's caselaw, and your best bet is to contact a tax lawyer who can make an assessment for you. There are accountants who are up to speed on this, but 95% of them call their tax-lawyer buddy to see what the state of the law is at any given moment.
Further, it is not necessarily best to ask for a determination from the CRA as regards your status. If there is any way they can keep you hooked, they will. If they make a determination that your are still liable to pay taxes, then you have to fight that too if you are trying to be otherwise....retain good legal counsel to give you an opinion,,,,if anything goes wrong afterwards the lawyer will have an insurance program to protect you most likely....
Bonne chance!
MJM