Residency status

I have a client that was a permanent resident, who has now moved back to India. Is he considered a non-resident at year end?

TIA
Gerry

The person is considered a non-resident as of the day in the year they cease to be a Canadian resident. Moving back to India is not, by itself, the only fact to consider. The taxpayer’s intention and other facts will determine if and when the Canadian residency is severed.

Reading between the lines, he would likely become a non-resident the day of his departure so a part-year resident return would be in order. Don’t forget Form T1161 - List of Properties by an Emigrant of Canada…

Conifrm with your client that he has broken his ties with Canada, and, it not, get a completed NR73 Determination of Residency Status (leaving Canada). If the information on that form does not provide the information you need to determine his reidency status under the Income Tax Act, you can send it to CRA for a residency determination.

I agree with Kevin and Helga above.

He will need to report and pay tax in Canada as a Resident on his world wide income until he can establish to you and to CRA that pursuant to the Canada-India tax treaty of 1996 he is now (again?) tax resident in India, presumably the country of his citizenship.

“year-end” as such has little to do with it, other than being the Canadian tax-year. Also, any benefits he/she is/was receiving would need to be stopped separately (medical, child, GIS, etc).

If he originally was (and remains) a citizen of India, has nothing left in Canada, and no ties, has a roof over his head in India, the most likely scenario is that he ceased to be eligible for any Canadian benefits on the day he boarded the plane, ceased tax-residency on that date, and he re-acquired tax residency in India when he stepped off the plane the other side.
However, if it turns out that he was less than forthright with you, and that this was just a long visit/sojurn to India, and later (2021 maybe?; 2022 maybe?) returns to Canada, he might find that he has to pay tax on world-wide income throughout, never having lost his Canadian tax-residency.