Adou - Court of Quebec finds that a 3-year departure from Quebec entailed a 3-year cessation of ordinary residence

Unusually, the ARQ assessed the taxpayer (a somewhat recent immigrant) to deny that he was a resident of Quebec at the end of a particular year (2013) – he had claimed significant child care credits based on being a Quebec resident. He had left Montreal in September 2013 for Sudbury, followed by Toronto, with his spouse and two young children to take up intermittent studies and employment there (with his spouse getting a job in Toronto). He returned to Montreal for several months in 2014, and then returned to Montreal permanently in 2016, where he pursued more studies and got a permanent full-time job in 2017.

Breault, J.C.Q. found that the taxpayer’s “customary lifestyle and ordinary mode of living, on December 31, 2013, was in the Province of Ontario” in light of the taxpayer having severed most of his connections with Quebec (e.g., his apartment and family both moved), and also noted:

[His] visits to Quebec (during the relevant period) … were clearly only temporary and limited in nature. They were much more a matter of a short stay to take advantage of a vacation period or occasional leave than a necessary presence to devote himself to duties or obligations related to important or even secondary elements of residence in Quebec.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Adou v. Agence du revenu du Québec, 2020 QCCQ 131 under s. 2(1).