Canadian Citizen Tax Question

Hi there, I am a Canadian Citizen born and raised and have been living and working in Costa Rica for the past 1year now. Ive filed my taxes for the 2008 year and plan on doing so for 2009 as well, as I work a few days in Canada in 2009. I want to know, now that I am a resident and paying taxes here from my pay checks ( I can prove that as well) I want to know if there is some form that exempts me from paying or filing my taxes in Canada. I do plan on returning some day to Canada within the next 5 years. I just want to make sure that I`m doing things the right way and find out now and not when it`s too late and I`m off to jail for tax evasion or fraud ! haha

Thanks in Advance,

Ashleigh

Simply working a few days in canada does not make you resident in canada, if you have left canada.

The one problem, however is that canada and CR doe NOT have a tax treaty, so to be considered a non-resident, you have to break almost ALL ties with Canada, esxcept for passport.

You have to look at CRA form NR73 to see if you have any loose ends that you can sever. Once you have severed, you can declare your self non-resident, by folllowing the steps in the Emigrants Guide from CRA, and putting a departure date on your return.

I know this post is 5 months old but I was wondering what happen in your situation?