Tax treaty with Brazil: In force since 1985. Social security agreement: In force since 2014.
When your tax residence ends
Canada taxes residents on worldwide income (section 2(1) of the Income Tax Act); no particular length of stay abroad by itself makes you non-resident. The CRA treats you as non-resident from the latest of your departure, your spouse's or dependants' departure and your becoming resident abroad, provided you sever your significant residential ties (home, spouse or partner, dependants) and most secondary ties such as provincial health cover, a driver's licence and bank accounts. Someone who is not factually resident but stays 183 days or more in a calendar year is deemed resident for that whole year (paragraph 250(1)(a)), and a treaty tie-breaker that assigns residence to the other country makes you a deemed non-resident under subsection 250(5).
Sources: Income Tax Act, section 2 (Justice Laws, current to 2026-09-30) · CRA, Leaving Canada (emigrants) (page date 2026-09-17) · CRA Income Tax Folio S5-F1-C1, Determining an Individual's Residence Status · Income Tax Act, section 250 (Justice Laws)
Exit or departure tax
Section 128.1(4) of the Income Tax Act deems you to sell most property at fair market value immediately before you leave (departure tax), with the gain reported on Form T1243. Excluded are Canadian real estate, business property of a Canadian permanent establishment, registered plans and pensions (RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, pension plans), and, for people resident in Canada 60 months or less in the previous 10 years, property brought in or inherited. If your property is worth more than CAD 25,000 you must file Form T1161 even without a return. You can defer payment interest-free until actual sale by electing on Form T1244 (subsection 220(4.5)) by April 30 of the following year, with security required above CAD 16,500 of federal tax.
Sources: CRA, Leaving Canada (emigrants) (page date 2026-09-17) · Income Tax Act, section 128.1 (Justice Laws, current to 2026-09-30) · CRA, Dispositions of property for emigrants of Canada · Income Tax Act, section 220 (Justice Laws)
State pension paid abroad
CPP is payable abroad after at least one valid contribution and rises each January with the Consumer Price Index. OAS is payable abroad only after 20 years of residence in Canada after age 18 (or 20 years combined with a social security agreement country); otherwise it can stop after six months abroad, and GIS and the Allowances stop after six months. OAS rises each January, April, July and October. Both are subject to 25% non-resident tax unless a treaty reduces it: Service Canada lists 15% for Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador (first CAD 12,000 of Canadian pensions exempt with Form NR5), Mexico and Peru, 25% or 0% for Brazil (0% only for Brazilian nationals resident there), and 25% for all countries not listed, which includes Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador. Non-resident OAS recipients must file the OAS Return of Income for the recovery tax unless a treaty limits it.
Sources: CRA, Non-residents of Canada · Income Tax Act, section 212 (Justice Laws) · Service Canada, Taxes: Foreign and Canadian pensions and benefits (non-resident tax rates by country) · CRA, Pensions and similar payments (Part XIII special payments) · CRA, Electing under section 217 · CRA, IC76-12 Applicable rate of Part XIII tax on amounts paid or credited to persons in countries with which Canada has a tax convention
Private and occupational pensions
Pension benefits, RRSP and RRIF payments and retiring allowances paid to a non-resident bear 25% Part XIII withholding under subsection 212(1) of the Income Tax Act, which is usually the final Canadian tax, unless a treaty reduces the rate. A treaty reduction or exemption is claimed on Form NR5 (filed every five years) and applies only after written CRA authorization; alternatively a section 217 election lets the non-resident file a return and pay tax at resident rates. RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs and pension rights are not subject to the departure deemed disposition, and a TFSA can be kept but not contributed to while non-resident.
Public health cover
Public health insurance is provincial: each province decides who is an eligible resident and how many days a year must be spent there, and most provincial plans give little or no cover for care outside Canada. In Ontario, for example, cancelling the health card on a move out of the province keeps OHIP for the allowable period, generally 90 days, and the extended two-year absence rules apply only to temporary absences. On a later return, re-registration can involve a wait of up to three months. Keeping provincial health cover also counts as a secondary residential tie for tax residence.
Sources: Health Canada, How publicly funded health care coverage works · Global Affairs Canada (travel.gc.ca), Retiring outside Canada · Government of Ontario, Replace, cancel or change information on your health card · Government of Ontario, OHIP coverage while outside Canada · CRA Income Tax Folio S5-F1-C1, Determining an Individual's Residence Status
Quebec
Revenu Québec applies its own residence test: while you stay outside Quebec and Canada you generally remain a Quebec resident, but if you move out of Canada and sever all residential ties with Quebec you will likely cease to be one, judged on your residential ties, the regularity and length of your visits to Quebec and whether a return is foreseen (interpretation bulletin IMP. 22-3/R2). Quebec income tax is due from individuals resident in Quebec on the last day of the year (Taxation Act, s. 22), and for someone who ceases to reside in Canada that day is the last day of residence in Canada (s. 23). In the departure year you pay Quebec tax on worldwide income for the period of residence in Canada, and for the rest of the year as a non-resident of Canada. Someone ordinarily resident outside Canada who sojourns in Quebec 183 days or more in a year is deemed to have resided in Quebec for the whole year (s. 8). Quebec has its own deemed disposition: under section 785.2 of the Taxation Act an emigrant is deemed to dispose of each property at fair market value immediately before leaving Canada, except Canadian real estate, capital property of a business carried on through a Canadian establishment, excluded rights such as RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs and pension plans (s. 785.0.1) and, for someone resident in Canada 60 months or less in the previous 120, property owned on arrival or inherited; the gain is computed on form TP-1033.2.A. If reportable property is worth more than CAD 25,000 in total, form TP-785.2.5 listing it must be filed by the filing due date even without a return, on pain of CAD 25 per day up to CAD 2,500 (s. 785.2.5). Payment of the Quebec tax can be deferred by electing on form TP-1033.2 (s. 1033.2), sent with the return by April 30 of the year after emigration; while accepted security covers the tax, interest and penalties are computed as if it had been paid. Security is required when that tax exceeds CAD 12,875 (form TP-1033.2, version 2021-03): an irrevocable bank letter of guarantee, a conventional immovable hypothec on Quebec property or certificated shares of Canadian private corporations. For the federal deferral, former Quebec residents must give security above CAD 13,777.50 of federal tax.
Sources: Revenu Québec, Vous avez quitté le Québec (live page) · Revenu Québec, Leaving Québec (live page) · LégisQuébec, Loi sur les impôts (chapitre I-3), à jour au 12 août 2026 (Internet Archive snapshot 2026-10-21 of the official text; live LégisQuébec returned HTTP 502/403) · LégisQuébec, Règlement sur l'admissibilité et l'inscription des personnes auprès de la Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec (chapitre A-29, r. 1), à jour au 1er décembre 2025 (Internet Archive snapshot 2026-04-11 of the official text; live LégisQuébec returned HTTP 502/403) · RAMQ, Déménagement hors Québec (live page) · RAMQ, Moving outside Québec (live page)
