Taxes for Newcomers to Canada
What newcomers to Canada pay tax on, when to file, benefits to apply for right away, and the first-year mistakes that cost money.
The short version
- For tax purposes you usually become a Canadian resident on the day you settle here: a home, a spouse or kids in Canada. From that day, Canada taxes your income from anywhere in the world.
- Income you earned abroad before that day isn't taxed in Canada. You still tell CRA about it, because it decides your benefits.
- Apply for benefits right away; you don't have to wait for your first return. Form RC66 for the Canada child benefit, form RC151 for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.
- Your first return is due April 30 of the year after you arrive. Personal credits like the basic personal amount are cut down to the days you lived here.
- Investments and property you bring are treated as bought at their market value on arrival day. Write that value down now; you'll want it when you sell.
Taxes for Newcomers to Canada
Welcome to Canada. We have excellent health care, polite people and a tax system that wants to know about your income from Tuesday onward. The good news: Canada doesn't tax what you earned before you arrived, and it pays real money to families who file. The bad news: it only pays if you file, and nobody mails you a reminder in your own language. This page is the map. The guides below have the detail.
The First Year, Step by Step
| When | What to do | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| First weeks | Get a Social Insurance Number from Service Canada | Your first tax return |
| First weeks | Write down your arrival date and the value of investments and property you own abroad | Tax residency |
| As soon as you have a SIN | Apply for the child benefit (RC66) and the Groceries and Essentials Benefit (RC151) | Canada child benefit |
| Through the year | Keep pay stubs, rent receipts, tuition forms and records of foreign income received after arrival | Receipts to keep |
| By April 30 next year | File your first return, online or on paper | How to file |
Not sure when you became a resident?
Tell the assistant when you arrived, where your family lives and what you still own back home. It explains your likely residency date and what goes on your first return.
Guides for Newcomers
| Situation | Guide |
|---|---|
| Filing for the first time | First tax return in Canada |
| Am I a resident, a non-resident or something in between? | Canadian tax residency explained |
| Here on a study permit | Taxes for international students |
| Here on a work permit | Taxes for temporary foreign workers |
| Living abroad with Canadian income or property | Non-resident tax in Canada |
| Pensions, rent or investment income from your old country | Foreign income after moving |
| A home or investments you owned before arriving | Property you owned before moving |
| Coming back after years abroad | Returning to Canada |
| Moving away again | Taxes when leaving Canada |
| Foreign property over $100,000 | Form T1135 |
| Paying tax in two countries | Foreign tax credit |
| Children in the family | Canada child benefit |
| Modest income | Groceries and Essentials Benefit |
What Canada Taxes, and From When
- Before your residency date: only income from Canadian sources, such as a job you already held here. Your salary back home isn't taxed in Canada.
- From your residency date: everything, from anywhere. Rent from the apartment in Manila, interest in a London bank, dividends from U.S. stocks: all of it, converted to Canadian dollars.
- Tax paid abroad on that income usually comes off your Canadian tax, through the foreign tax credit. You aren't meant to pay twice; you are meant to fill in the form.
- Rates: federal plus provincial brackets; see tax brackets and provincial taxes, or try the income tax calculator.
Savings Accounts for Newcomers
- TFSA: room starts in the year you become a resident with a SIN and are 18 or older, and you get the full year's limit of $7,000 even if you arrive in December; see TFSA.
- RRSP: room comes from earned income in Canada the year before, so most newcomers have none in year one; see RRSP.
- FHSA: for first-time home buyers who are residents; see FHSA.
Mistakes Newcomers Make
- Not filing because income was low. No return means no child benefit and no Groceries and Essentials Benefit. Both spouses file, every year, even with zero income.
- Reporting a full year of credits. The basic personal amount is prorated to the days you were resident; software does it if you enter the arrival date correctly.
- Forgetting foreign income after arrival. CRA exchanges information with many countries. "I didn't know" is a weaker defence than people hope.
- No record of what things were worth on arrival. Without it, you may be taxed on growth that happened before you ever lived here.
Got a CRA letter you can't make sense of? The CRA letter analyzer reads it, and the tax problem solver lists credits and benefits that fit your family.
Taxes for Permanent Residents
A permanent resident card is an immigration status, not a tax status. A permanent resident who lives here is taxed exactly like a citizen: world income, the same credits, the same benefits. A permanent resident who lives abroad can be a non-resident for tax, even while keeping the card. What counts is where your home and family are; see tax residency and non-resident tax.
Newcomer Tax Questions
Do newcomers to Canada have to file a tax return?
You must file if you owe tax, and you should file anyway to get benefits. Your first return is due April 30 of the year after you become a resident, or June 15 if you or your spouse are self-employed, with any balance still due April 30.
Do I pay Canadian tax on income I earned before I moved to Canada?
No, not on foreign income earned before you became a resident. You report your world income from your residency date onward, and you tell CRA your foreign income from before arrival for benefit purposes.
How do newcomers apply for the Canada child benefit?
Apply with form RC66 (or in My Account once you have one), with schedule RC66SCH for your status and income. You can apply as soon as you arrive; you do not have to wait for your first return.
Can a newcomer file a tax return online?
Yes. CRA says newcomers can file their first return with NETFILE-certified software, or on paper.
What happens to investments I owned before coming to Canada?
Most property is treated as if you sold and bought it back at fair market value on the day you became a resident. That value becomes your cost, so only growth after arrival is taxed in Canada when you sell.
How are permanent residents taxed in Canada?
The same as citizens, if they live here: on world income, with the same credits and benefits. Permanent residence is an immigration status; tax residency depends on your residential ties, so a permanent resident living abroad can be a non-resident for tax.
Sources: CRA, Newcomers to Canada; Completing your return for newcomers. Checked October 2026. Provincial details exclude Quebec. Some property, such as Canadian real estate you owned before arriving, is not stepped up on arrival; check your own case if you held property in Canada before you moved here.
Last reviewed October 5, 2026 against CRA and Government of Canada sources. How we check our facts.