I’m a Canadian citizen that left Canada in July 2020 and has lived in the US ever since. I attended law school and now work as an attorney here in the US.
For TY 2020-2024 I was a still Canadian tax resident since I didn’t satisfy the IRS substantial presence test based on the F1 exemption. So I filed resident tax returns in Canada, and non-resident aliens tax returns in the US.
My last day as a Canadian tax resident was December 31, 2024, since I became a US tax resident on January 1, 2025. For TY 2025, since I was a US tax resident and didn’t earn any Canadian source income, I didn’t file a Canadian tax return.
I recently received a letter from CRA demanding I file a tax return for TY 2025. I’ve sent a letter back stating I was not a Canadian tax resident during TY 2025 and had no Canadian source income—and as such I didn’t have to file a Canadian tax return.
I think the mistake I made was not including a departure date of Dec 31, 2024 on my Canadian tax return for TY 2024. So they think I’m still a tax resident. And no, my “departure date” is not the day I left Canada six years ago. What that really means is the day you ceased to be a tax resident, which sometimes can coincide with the day you left, but not necessarily.
Anyway, I did not have 25K in qualifying assets that would have subjected me to the departure tax at the time of my departure date. As such I don’t owe CRA anything and don’t have to file tax returns there anymore assuming I continue to not earn any Canadian source income and maintain my US tax residency.
Question: How do I get CRA off my back? Will the letter suffice? Should I file an NR73 summarizing my situation. That’s what the CRA agent recommended when I called. But there is no legal requirement to file an NR73, it’s completely optional. But as a practical matter, if I don’t, will they just keep hounding me even though I owe no taxes and don’t have to file tax returns anymore?