NR73 form and non-resident Canadian

I have asked about my non-resident Canadian situation in this forum and got valuable feedback. Again I have few questions regarding the same matter, hopefully will get the same great response!

Just to let you know that I am working in UAE for past 5 years and have not informed CRA about my departure from Canada. I submit tax returns every year. I do not have any property, driving license, health card, RRSP etc in Canada. Now I want to get my status changed to non-resident Canadian for tax purpose. My question are

1. For the 2009 tax return through FileNet, can I fill the departure date on front page of T1 as June 2004. That is when I left Canada. Will there be any problem if I enter a back date. If a worse case scenario, I guess they may ask me to fill up the NR73 form.

2. Another scenario is what if I do not mention that I am out of Canada as I have plans of moving back to Canada in 2010. Can I just go back to Canada and start living/working there. Do I need to even tell CRA that I was out of Canada.

3. If I go back to Canada and take all my personal stuff from UAE in a container, will it be tax exempted i.e duty free or Canadian Customs treat it differently for resident and non-resident Canadian.

1. There is no posibility of using Netfile either to file a departure or non-resident return for the current year, nor file any type of return for previous years. If you have already field a return for any given year, the only way to change it is by submitting a t1-adj paper form, or send them a letter.

2. As long as you report all world income for 2010 on your 2010 Cdn return (as you should have done for the past 5 years) there is no need to file the return as a "returning resident" with an arrival date. The problem with your earlier returns was not that you filed with incorrect status (you were still a tax resident of canada) the problem was that you did not report your income.

3. As I mentionned already, CBSA does allow returnees to bring *almost* everything back duty -free. Look on their website for the forms that you will need to fill, and for the criteria for duty-free importation.