S5-F1-C1, Determining an Individual's Residence Status

Introduction

The purpose of this Chapter History page is to highlight any amendments to the information contained in an interpretation bulletin that is now reflected in a chapter of an income tax folio as well as to identify any subsequent amendments to a folio chapter. It outlines amendments that have been made as a result of legislative changes and proposed legislative changes, precedential court decisions, as well as new or revised interpretations of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Update November 26, 2015

Minor changes have been made to improve the usability of the income tax folios:

• the Summary section has been moved to the top of each folio chapter to be more immediately visible and helpful to readers;
• the Application and Reference sections have been moved to the end of the Chapter which is more appropriate for administrative content of this nature. However, these sections now appear in the Table of contents for easy access;
• the statement that folios are only available in electronic format has been moved to the end of the Application section; and
• the words “as promulgated under the Act” in connection with the Income Tax Regulations have been removed from the Application section, in the interest of using plain language.

Update July 31, 2014

Throughout the French version of the Chapter and its Chapter History, general revisions have been made to improve readability. The following changes have also been made to the Chapter.

Title of the Chapter: the French title of income tax folio S5-F1-C1 has been changed. It was formerly entitled Détermination du statut de résident d’un particulier. It was considered that the new title, Détermination du statut de résidence d’un particulier is more precise and better reflects the Chapter contents.

¶1.6 has been revised to replace the word “individual” with the word “person” when describing subsection 250(3), in order to reflect the wording of the legislation.

¶1.24 has been revised to remove the references to Guide T4056, Emigrants and Income Tax and Pamphlet T4131, Canadian Residents Abroad. Readers are instead directed to updated CRA webpages discussing these topics.

¶1.39 has been revised to remove the reference to Guide T4056, Emigrants and Income Tax. Readers are instead directed to an updated CRA webpage discussing this topic.

Update March 28, 2013

General

Income Tax Folio S5-F1-C1, Determining an Individual’s Residence Status, replaces and cancels Interpretation Bulletin IT-221R3, Determination of an Individual’s Residence Status.

In addition to consolidating the content of the former interpretation bulletin, general revisions have been made to improve readability. Any substantive technical and interpretive changes to the information outlined in the former interpretation bulletin are described below. Except as otherwise noted, all statutory references herein are references to provisions of the Income Tax Act, R.S.C., 1985, c.1 (5th Supp.), as amended.

Legislative and other changes

The Summary has been expanded to preliminarily introduce readers to the terms resident, ordinarily resident, deemed resident, non-resident, and deemed non-resident as well as to provide a brief outline of the respective individual’s liability for Canadian income tax.

¶1.5 - 1.9 (formerly included in ¶2 – 3 of IT-221R3) have been expanded to include additional discussion of the meaning of the terms resident and ordinary resident based on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Thomson v Minister of National Revenue , [1946] S.C.R. 209, 2 DTC 812.

¶1.24 has been added to provide reference to CRA pamphlets and guides relevant to individuals emigrating from, or temporarily living outside of, Canada.

¶1.29 has been added to provide reference to CRA pamphlets and guides relevant to individuals immigrating to Canada.

¶1.33 (formerly included in ¶21 of IT-221R3) has been expanded to provide additional guidance in distinguishing a commuter from a sojourner.

¶1.35 has been added to provide CRA’s interpretation of the phrase “immediately prior to appointment or employment” as contained in paragraph 250(1)(c).

¶1.39 has been added to provide reference to CRA guides relevant to non-residents and deemed non-residents of Canada.

¶1.41 - 1.44 have been added to outline the meaning of the term liable to tax for purposes of determining whether an individual is considered resident in a country for purposes of paragraph 1 of the Residence article of a particular treaty between Canada and another country.

¶1.46 - 1.50 (formerly included in ¶26 of IT-221R3) discuss the permanent home and centre of vital interests tests. This discussion has been rearranged and expanded to include reference to the commentary to paragraph 2 of the Residence article of the OECD Model Tax Convention.

¶1.51 has been added to discuss the relevance of the intention of the parties to a tax treaty in delineating the scope of a particular tax treaty, further to the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in The Queen v Crown Forest Industries Limited, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 802, 95 DTC 5389.