Before you start

Social Insurance Number
T4 slips from employers and T5 slips for investment income
Records of foreign income and foreign property
A determination of the date you became a tax resident

Step-by-step

1
Establish the date you became a tax resident
Canadian tax residency turns on residential ties — a home, a spouse, dependants, and secondary ties like bank accounts and a driving licence — rather than a day count. Your first return covers only the part of the year after that date.
OnlineWho: You
2
Know that your province is set by where you lived on 31 December
Provincial tax follows your residence on the last day of the year, not where you worked. Someone employed in Ottawa but living in Gatineau pays Quebec rates and files a Quebec return. Moving across the river in December changes an entire year's provincial tax treatment.
OnlineWho: You
3
File one return for federal and Ontario tax together
Ontario's provincial tax is calculated on the same federal return and filed with the Canada Revenue Agency. The deadline is 30 April for most people, and 15 June if you or your spouse are self-employed, with any balance still due 30 April.
OnlineWho: YouBy 30 April
4
Report foreign property above the threshold on form T1135
Residents holding specified foreign property costing more than CAD 100,000 in total must file this form annually. Penalties for not filing are severe and applied per year.
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5
Understand that your first year gives you no RRSP room
RRSP contribution room is based on the previous year's Canadian earned income, so a newcomer has none in year one. TFSA room starts from the year you became a resident.
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6
Keep records for a departure tax if you ever leave
Ceasing Canadian tax residency triggers a deemed disposition of most assets at fair market value, with tax on the accrued gain. It is far easier to plan for with records kept from the beginning.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Social Insurance Number
T4, T4A and T5 slips — plus Relevé slips if you live in Quebec
Records of foreign income, accounts and property
Rent or property tax records, for the Ontario Trillium Benefit
Receipts for deductible expenses, medical costs and childcare

Things most newcomers don’t know

Where you sleep on 31 December decides your provincial tax for the whole year.

Provincial income tax follows your province of residence on the last day of the calendar year, not where your employer is. In a metropolitan area split across a provincial border this has real consequences: an Ottawa job and a Gatineau apartment means Quebec rates, a Quebec return alongside the federal one, and Quebec's higher combined burden. It also means that a move across the river in November or December retroactively changes an entire year.

Source: Canada Revenue Agency

The cheaper Gatineau rent is partly offset by Quebec's higher taxes, and people rarely run the whole number.

Housing across the river is meaningfully cheaper and Quebec offers subsidised childcare that can be worth a great deal to a young family. Against that sit higher combined income tax rates, a higher sales tax, two returns to file, and the RAMQ waiting period on arrival. For some households the move is clearly right and for others clearly wrong — the mistake is deciding it on the rent line alone.

Source: Revenu Québec

The Ontario Trillium Benefit needs rent or property tax reported, and tenants routinely miss it.

Ontario combines several credits into a monthly benefit that includes an energy and property tax component, and claiming it requires reporting the rent you paid and the landlord's details on your return. Many tenants never fill in that section and quietly forgo money they are entitled to, particularly in their first year when income is often low enough to qualify for the full amount.

Source: Canada Revenue Agency

Canadian tax residency is decided by ties, not by counting days.

People arrive expecting a 183-day rule and there is one, but it is a secondary test. The primary test is residential ties: where your home is, where your spouse and dependants are, then secondary ties like bank accounts, a driving licence and provincial health cover. You can become a Canadian tax resident well before 183 days, and worldwide income is taxable from that date.

Source: Canada Revenue Agency

Common mistakes to avoid

Choosing Gatineau on the rent alone without running the tax and childcare numbers together.
Moving across the river in December and changing a whole year's provincial tax.
Never reporting rent and forgoing the Ontario Trillium Benefit.
Assuming a 183-day rule determines when you became a tax resident.
Planning to contribute to an RRSP in your first year, when you have no room.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.