irwin99

There really are no guidelines set in stone for this, other than if you are in Canada for 6 months in a calendar year, you are automatically deemed resident for tax purposes. However, as long as you don't make millions when you are offshore and try to bring it back into Canada tax free at a later date, nobody is going to challenge you. Substantial ties with Canada should obviously be cut (health care coverage, bank accounts, property ownership etc...), but again no formal guidelines exist to regulate this. It is evaluated on a case by case basis. When you become non-resident for tax purposes of Canada, the intention (mentally) should be that you are never returning to Canada to live permanently again (which is why if you are bringing millions back they will generally challenge you on that). For this reason, I know a number of Canadian professionals who live offshore but still pay Canadian taxes as they do plan to return to live in Canada in the future. Obviously their advice came from their Canadian tax lawyers. So really, its not as simple as it seems, its not like you can just go away for a few years, make a few million tax free and bring it back into Canada and buy a house with the money and just carry on like you are back home from an extended vacation. It is worth noting that only two countries tax their citizens in their home country on their income no matter where they live, the US and Libya.