There's a book available called Canadians Living Abroad or something like that which will give you all of the information you will need. I picked it up at Chapters and it is making its way around the office. Bottom line is that you need to sever your residency in Canada and establish residency elsewhere (meaning spouse and kids must relocate, house sold or rented at arms length and social ties severed and reestablished here). Keep a file with letters etc to support the residency change. There is a tax accounting firm in Toronto specializing in this area called Trowbridge who have a $400 consultation fee for more complicated situations (keep in mind that unlike lawyers, tax accountants consults are not privledged). The Revenue Canada form mentioned above is a two edged sword --- you are giving them information and they will not guarantee you one way or the other whether you will be considered a non resident. If you set it up right at the outset then I am advised that you can still return at any time to Canada (keep in mind that provincial health plans, Ontario for sure, require a 3 month waitng period to re establish coverage so you will need to take that into account). Hope this is helpful.
There's a book available called Canadians Living Abroad or something like that which will give you all of the information you will need. I picked it up at Chapters and it is making its way around the office. Bottom line is that you need to sever your residency in Canada and establish residency elsewhere (meaning spouse and kids must relocate, house sold or rented at arms length and social ties severed and reestablished here). Keep a file with letters etc to support the residency change. There is a tax accounting firm in Toronto specializing in this area called Trowbridge who have a $400 consultation fee for more complicated situations (keep in mind that unlike lawyers, tax accountants consults are not privledged). The Revenue Canada form mentioned above is a two edged sword --- you are giving them information and they will not guarantee you one way or the other whether you will be considered a non resident. If you set it up right at the outset then I am advised that you can still return at any time to Canada (keep in mind that provincial health plans, Ontario for sure, require a 3 month waitng period to re establish coverage so you will need to take that into account). Hope this is helpful.