Question on secondary ties.

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Annymous (anonymous) Posted 14 hours ago MadanCA Team edited answer 53 seconds ago

Hi,

I asked a question earlier on secondary ties. I left Canada but forgot to cancel health insurance/it expired after 1 year. How do I correct my back departure and will this make me a resident even if not used?

Just noticed it wasn’t abswered but posted.

1 Answer

score 0 · Answer 1 · 2025-12-19T22:58:09+00:00

Answer: Secondary Ties, Health Insurance & Correcting Your Departure

This is a very common situation, so you’re not alone.
For Canadian tax residency, CRA does not look at any one factor in isolation. Residency is determined based on your overall residential ties, which are grouped into primary and secondary ties.

1. Provincial health insurance is a secondary tie

Holding (or forgetting to cancel) provincial health coverage is considered a secondary residential tie, not a primary one. On its own, it does not make you a Canadian tax resident, especially if:

You had no home available to you in Canada
Your spouse/dependants were not in Canada
You were living, working, and settled outside Canada

Even if the health card technically remained active or expired later, CRA focuses more on whether it was actually used and whether your overall life was centered outside Canada.

2. Forgetting to cancel health coverage does NOT automatically make you a resident

CRA understands that many people forget to cancel things like health insurance, driver’s licences, or bank accounts. These are weighed together with all other facts. A single secondary tie is rarely decisive on its own.

3. Correcting or “back-dating” your departure

There is no formal process to retroactively “change” your departure date. Instead, residency is determined based on the facts for each year.
To correct things:

You report the actual date you left Canada and established residence elsewhere on your tax filings.
If CRA ever reviews your file, you support your position with facts (housing abroad, employment, visas, foreign tax filings, etc.).
If you want certainty, you can request CRA’s opinion using Form NR73 (Determination of Residency Status), though this should be done carefully and only when appropriate.

4. What CRA really looks at

CRA gives the most weight to:

Where you physically lived
Where your home, family, and daily life were centered
Where you were tax resident under foreign law

Secondary ties like health insurance are relevant, but they do not override strong evidence of non-residency.

Bottom line:
Forgetting to cancel provincial health insurance does not, by itself, make you a Canadian tax resident. If your primary ties were severed and you established your life abroad, your non-resident position can still be valid. Each case is fact-specific, so professional advice is recommended if you’re correcting past filings or concerned about CRA review.

Question on secondary ties.

1 Answer

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