A lesson about Canadian residency determination laws

If you’re a Canadian citizen and plan to leave Canada for more than 183 days of the calendar year, make sure you first file an NR73 form to establish your residency status. I wasn’t aware of this law until a month ago when the Canada Revenue Agency demanded an additional $4,100 in taxes because I was out of the country for two weeks longer than permitted.

I have submitted an NR73 for the 2017 tax year and hope that I can prove I had maintained close ties to the country — all of my personal belongings, my family, and my common law partner were all here while I was away — but there’s no guarantee that they’ll change their determination.

Had I known about this law at the time, I probably would have used a tool like this one from Nomad List, which tracks the number of days you are out of your home country. (via Boris Mann)

Now all I have to worry about is what could happen when I plan to return to Uganda.

If you’re planning to live a nomadic lifestyle, please learn from my mistake.

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