2025 Income Tax and Benefit Guide for Non-Residents and Deemed Residents of Canada

Use the left navigation menu to access the general table of contents or any other section of this guide.

On this page...

• What's new for 2025
  • CRA's programs and services
  • Federal changes
• Before you file
  • Who has to file a return
    • Deceased persons
  • Determining your residency status
    • Residential ties
    • Non-residents
    • Deemed non-residents
    • Deemed residents
    • Members of the overseas Canadian Forces school staff
    • You lived in Quebec just before you left Canada
  • Which tax package is for you
  • Due dates
  • Penalties and interest
    • Penalties
    • Interest on your balance owing
    • Interest on your refund
    • Cancel or waive penalties and interest
  • Sending your return to the CRA
  • Get help doing your taxes
    • Individual enquiries by phone
    • Teletypewriter (TTY) and Video Relay Service (VRS) users
  • Gather your documents
    • Missing slips or receipts
  • Electing under section 217
    • Reducing tax withheld    
    • Eligible section 217 income
    • Section 217 return due date
    • Completing your section 217 return
  • Electing under section 216.1
    • Section 216.1 return due date
    • Reducing tax withheld
    • Completing your section 216.1 return

What's new for 2025

This section generally includes updates to the CRA's services as well as proposed, announced and enacted tax changes for the year. When tax changes become law as proposed or announced, they will be effective for the tax year or as of the dates given. If draft legislation is finalized, new legislation is introduced, or proposed changes are cancelled after the date of publishing in November 2025, updated information will be available at Personal income tax: What's new for 2025. Any revised forms will be posted at Forms and publications.

New items are marked with New! throughout this guide to help you quickly identify changes for 2025.

CRA's programs and services

Regain access to your CRA account

If you are locked out of your CRA account or forgot your sign-in information, you can now regain access online – no need to call the CRA. Use the CRA’s new self-service option to create new sign-in credentials and quickly get back into your account.

To regain access:

1. Go to Sign in to your CRA account

2. Under "Help", select "Your account is locked"

3.  Follow the on-screen steps

Authorizing a representative

Online services are designed to make CRA service delivery faster, easier, and more secure for you and your representative.

To authorize a representative instantly and with ease, go to Sign in to your CRA Account to register for a CRA account.

As of July 15, 2025, the Authorize a Representative function in EFILE software for individuals is no longer available.

This means that your representative can no longer use EFILE to request access to your account. Instead, your representative must use the Represent a Client portal at About Represent a client to request online access to your account. The access will be activated as soon as you confirm it within your CRA account.

For clients who cannot access their CRA account, the CRA has also enhanced the Represent a Client portal by removing the previous five-day processing delay for the alternative process. Now, your representative can get instant access to your account using the Alternative process for individuals. To do this, you need to make sure your representative has the necessary tax documents ready for authorizing a representative through the CRA.

To get instant access, your representative must:

• submit the authorization using the Authorization Request service in Represent a Client
• provide specific tax information from your notice of assessment that was issued at least six months ago

Note: Only the representative requesting authorization (or a person registered with the same GroupID or business number (BN) in Represent a Client) can submit a request. 

For more information about authorizing a representative, go to Representative authorization.

If your marital status changed

You must tell the CRA about your new marital status by the end of the following month after your status changed.

A change to your marital status during the tax year may impact your entitlement to credits and benefits, and how your income is reported.

If your marital status changed in 2025, enter the date of change on page 1 of your return. The CRA will recalculate your benefits and credits based on your new marital status to determine if you received too much or too little.

Note: If your marital status changed to separated, you must wait at least 90 days before informing the CRA. Once you have been separated for 90 days because of a breakdown in the relationship, the effective date of your separated status is the day that you started living apart.

To estimate your new benefit and credit amounts, go to Child and family benefits calculator.

For more information about changing your marital status, go to Marital status.

Federal changes

Capital gains deduction for qualifying business transfers or qualifying cooperative conversions

Under proposed changes starting in 2024, you may be eligible for a the capital gains deduction on the sale of shares under a qualifying cooperative conversions. For more information, see Guide T4037, Capital Gains.

Capital gains rollover for small business shares

Under proposed changes, for qualifying dispositions after December 31, 2024, the period to acquire replacement shares has increased and the definition of eligible small business corporation share has been expanded. For more information, see Guide T4037, Capital Gains.

Critical mineral exploration tax credit

Under proposed changes, the critical mineral exploration tax credit (CMETC) has been expanded to include 12 new critical minerals – including bismuth, cesium, chromium, fluorspar, germanium, indium, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, tin, and tungsten. This expansion applies only to eligible flow-through share agreements entered into after November 4, 2025, and before April 1, 2027.

Northern residents deductions

For 2025 and later tax years, the islands of Haida Gwaii have been reclassified from the prescribed intermediate zone to the prescribed northern zone. If you were a deemed resident of Canada for income tax purposes in 2025, you may be able to claim up to the maximum value of the northern residents deductions if you lived on the islands of Haida Gwaii, on a permanent basis, for a continuous period of at least six consecutive months.

For more information about northern residents deductions, go to line 25500 - Northern residents deductions.

Return of fuel charge proceeds to farmers tax credit

The federal fuel charge ended April 1, 2025. As a result, the return of fuel charge proceeds to farmers tax credit for the 2024-2025 fuel charge year will be the final credit available to certain eligible farming businesses. For more information, go to line 47556 - Return of fuel charge proceeds to farmers tax credit.

Tax rate change - lowest individual income tax rate

Under proposed changes starting July 1, 2025, the lowest individual income tax rate will be reduced from 15% to 14%. Since the change takes effect halfway through the year, the full-year lowest marginal individual income tax rate for 2025 will be 14.5%. The rate applying to most non-refundable tax credits will continue to be the same as the lowest marginal individual income tax rate.

Top-up tax credit

Under proposed changes, this new non-refundable tax credit was introduced to effectively maintain a 15% rate for certain non-refundable tax credits claimed on amounts over the first income tax bracket threshold of $57,375 for 2025. For more information, go to line 34990 - Top-up tax credit or see the chart for line 34990 on your Federal Worksheet for Non-Residents and Deemed Residents of Canada.

Underused housing tax

The underused housing tax (UHT) has been eliminated. You do not have to pay UHT or file UHT returns for 2025 or later tax years. However, all UHT requirements, including penalties and interest for failing to file or pay by the deadlines still apply for tax years 2022 to 2024.

Before you file

Complete your Income Tax and Benefit Return for Non-Residents and Deemed Residents of Canada using the information in this tax package, along with your information slips, receipts and supporting documents.

Even if you did not have any income in the year, you still have to file a return to get the benefits, credits, and refund you may be entitled to.

Who has to file a return

File a 2025 return if:

• The Canada Revenu Agency (CRA) sent you a request to file a return
• You have to pay tax or want to claim a refund year
• You or your spouse or common-law partner want to begin or continue receiving credits and benefits, such as:
  • the Canada child benefit (CCB) and related provincial and territorial benefits
  • the goods and services tax ⁄ harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit and related provincial and territorial credits and benefits
  • the guaranteed income supplement (GIS)

• You want to claim the Canada workers benefit (CWB) and receive advanced Canada workers benefit (ACWB) payments
• You and your spouse or common-law partner are jointly electing to split pension income
• You disposed of capital property (which may be a principal residence) or realized a taxable capital gain in 2025 as a deemed resident of Canada at any time in the year
• You disposed of taxable Canadian property in 2025 as a non-resident of Canada throughout 2025 (if all of the gain from each disposition is exempt under a tax treaty or you received a Certificate of Compliance for the disposition where no payment of tax was required, you may not have to file a tax return. For more information, go to Disposing of or acquiring certain Canadian property
• You have to repay all or part of your old age security (OAS) benefits or employment insurance (EI) benefits. (if you were a non-resident of Canada in 2025, use Form T1136, Old Age Security Return of Income (OASRI), to repay all or part of your OAS benefits)
• You have not repaid all of the amounts that you withdrew from your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) under the Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) or Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP)
• You have to contribute to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) for 2025 since the total of your total net self-employment income plus pensionable employment income is more than $3,500
• You are paying EI premiums on self-employment income or other eligible earnings
• You incurred a non-capital loss in 2025 that you want to be able to apply to other years
• You want to transfer unused tuition fees or carry forward an unused tuition amount to a future year
• You want to report income that would allow you to contribute to an RRSP, a pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) or a specified pension plan (SPP) to keep your RRSP deduction limit for future years up to date (see Schedule 7, RRSP, PRPP and SPP Unused Contributions and Transfers, and HBP or LLP Activities)
• You opened a first home savings account (FHSA) in 2025 or a previous year as a deemed resident of Canada and want to keep your FHSA participation room up to date (see Schedule 15, FHSA Contributions, Transfers and Activities)
• You want to carry forward the unused investment tax credit on expenditures that you incurred in 2025
• You want to report income that will allow you to increase your Canada training credit limit
• You filed Form NR5, Application by a Non-Resident of Canada For a Reduction in the Amount of Non-Resident Tax Required to be Withheld, for 2025, and the CRA approved it (you may also have to file a return electing under section 217 of the Income Tax Act for each year of the period covered by the approved Form NR5; see Form NR5 for exceptions)
• You filed Form NR6, Undertaking to File an Income Tax Return by a Non-Resident Receiving Rent From Real or Immovable Property or Receiving a Timber Royalty, for 2025, and the CRA approved it (you also have to file Form T1159, Income Tax Return for Electing Under Section 216)
• You filed Form T1287, Application by a Non-Resident of Canada (Individual) for a Reduction in the Amount of Non-Resident Tax Required to be Withheld on Income Earned from Acting in a Film or Video Production, for 2025, and the CRA approved it (you also have to file a return electing under section 216.1 of the Income Tax Act)

Deceased persons

If you are the legal representative (executor, administrator or liquidator) for the estate of a person who died in 2025, you may have to file a 2025 return for that person.

Send the legal document that names you as the legal representative, such as a complete copy of the will, grant of probate or letters of administration, to the CRA.

If there is no legal document naming a legal representative, you may request to be the representative by completing Form RC552, Register as Representative for a Deceased Person.

Send the document to the CRA online using Represent a Client or by mail to the tax centre of the person who died.

For more information, see Doing taxes for someone who died.

Determining your residency status

Residential ties

To determine an individual's residency status, all of the relevant facts in each case must be considered, including residential ties to Canada and the length of time, purpose, intent and continuity of the stay while living inside and outside Canada.

Significant residential ties

These ties to Canada include:

• a home in Canada
• a spouse or common-law partner in Canada
• dependants in Canada

Secondary residential ties

These ties to Canada may be relevant in determining your residency status and can include:

• personal property in Canada, such as a car or furniture
• social ties in Canada, such as memberships in Canadian recreational or religious organizations
• economic ties in Canada, such as Canadian bank accounts or credit cards
• a Canadian driver's licence or Canadian passport
• health insurance with a Canadian province or territory 

For more information, see Income Tax Folio S5-F1-C1, Determining an Individual's Residence Status.

If you need help determining your residency status

If you are still not sure whether you were a non-resident of Canada for tax purposes in 2025, complete Form NR74, Determination of Residency Status (Entering Canada), or Form NR73, Determination of Residency Status (Leaving Canada), whichever applies, and send it to the CRA as soon as possible. The CRA will provide you with an opinion on your residency status based on the information you provide.

Factual residents

You are a factual resident of Canada for tax purposes if you keep significant residential ties in Canada while living or travelling outside Canada.

Non-residents

You are a non-resident for tax purposes throughout any period that all of the following apply:

• You normally live in another country
• You do not have significant residential ties in Canada
• You are not a deemed resident of Canada

Income you should report

Report your income from Canadian sources such as the taxable part of your scholarships, fellowships, bursaries, net research grants, income from employment in Canada or a business that does not have a permanent establishment in Canada, net partnership income (limited or non-active partners only), and taxable capital gains from disposing of taxable Canadian property, as shown under the income lines applicable to non-residents of Canada in the guide.

Other types of income are not reported but must be entered on Schedule A, Statement of World Income. For more information, see Schedule A or contact the CRA.

Non-resident wanting to elect under section 217

Under section 217 of the Income Tax Act, you can choose to file a Canadian return, report certain types of Canadian-source income and pay tax on this income using an alternative method. You may receive a refund of some or all of the non-resident tax withheld. Choosing to do this is called electing under section 217 of the Income Tax Act.

Non-resident wanting to elect under section 216.1

Under section 216.1 of the Income Tax Act, if you are a non-resident actor, you can choose to report amounts paid, credited or provided as a benefit to you for film and video acting services rendered in Canada on a Canadian return and pay tax on that income using an alternative taxing method. Choosing to do this is called Electing under section 216.1.

Deemed non-residents

You are a deemed non-resident of Canada if you would have been considered a resident of Canada (or deemed resident of Canada) but you are instead considered a resident of another country under a tax treaty between Canada and the other country.

The rules that apply to non-residents of Canada also apply to deemed non-residents of Canada. This means you complete your return the same way as a non-resident of Canada.

Deemed residents

You may be considered a deemed resident of Canada for tax purposes if you were not a factual resident of Canada (because you did not have significant residential ties to Canada) and either of the following apply:

• At any time in 2025, you were living outside Canada and were a government employee, a member of the Canadian Forces including their overseas school staff, or working under a Global Affairs Canada assistance program

• You stayed in Canada for 183 days or more in the tax year and are not considered a resident of another country under the terms of a tax treaty between Canada and that country

Additionally, you may be considered a deemed resident of Quebec if you stayed in the province of Quebec during that period. For more information, contact Revenu Québec.

You were a deemed resident of Canada if you lived outside Canada during 2025, you were not considered a factual resident of Canada because you did not have significant residential ties in Canada, and you were one of the following:

• a member of the Canadian Forces overseas school staff and you choose to file a return as a deemed resident of Canada (if you left Canada during 2025, see Members of the overseas Canadian Forces school staff)
• a federal or provincial government employee and you were either a resident of Canada just before being posted abroad or you received a representation allowance for 2025
• a person working under a Global Affairs Canada assistance program if you were a resident of Canada at any time during the three-month period just before you began your duties abroad
• a member of the Canadian Forces at any time in 2025
• a person who, under a tax treaty, agreement, or convention between Canada and another country, is exempt from tax in that other country on 90% or more of your income from all sources because of your relationship to a resident (including a deemed resident) of Canada
• a dependent child of one of the first four persons described earlier in this section and your net world income in 2025 was not more than the basic personal amount in Canadian dollars

Income you should report

Report your 2025 world income. World income is income from all sources both inside and outside Canada.

Members of the overseas Canadian Forces school staff 

If you were a member of the overseas Canadian Forces school staff who left Canada in 2025 and severed residential ties, you became a non-resident of Canada. Use the 2025 income tax package for the province or territory where you lived just before you left Canada. Go to Individuals – Leaving or entering Canada and non-residents for the special rules that apply to you. You can choose to file as a deemed resident of Canada while you are serving abroad. If so, use the 2025 income tax package for the province or territory where you lived just before you left Canada. In future years, you will use the Income Tax Package for Non-Residents and Deemed Residents of Canada.

You lived in Quebec just before you left Canada

In addition to being considered a deemed resident of Canada, under Quebec law, you may also be considered a deemed resident of the province of Quebec. If so, you may have to pay Quebec income tax while you are serving abroad.

For example, if you are a deemed resident of Canada and were, at any time in the year, an agent-general, an officer or a servant of the province of Quebec and you were a resident of that province just before your appointment or employment with that province, you must pay Quebec income tax.

Deemed residents of Quebec

To avoid double taxation (surtax for non-residents and deemed residents of Canada plus Quebec income tax), attach a note to your federal return stating that you are:

• subject to Quebec income tax
• filing a Revenu Québec Income Tax Return
• asking for relief from the non-resident and deemed resident surtax

For more information, contact the CRA.

The province of Quebec also grants relief to certain taxpayers who were deemed residents of Canada and Quebec. This includes deemed residents of Canada who are members of the Canadian Forces or, at any time in the year, an ambassador, minister, high commissioner, officer or servant of Canada, and who were also deemed residents of Quebec. For more information, contact Revenu Québec.

Which tax package is for you

• You were a deemed resident in 2025 reporting only income from a business with a permanent establishment in a province or territory of Canada, use the income tax package for the province or territory where you earned income
• You were a deemed resident who returned to live in Canada in 2025, use the income tax package for the province or territory where you lived on December 31, 2025
• You were a non-resident throughout 2025 reporting only income from employment in Canada or a business or partnership with a permanent establishment in Canada, use the income tax package for the province or territory where you earned the income (also see Guide T4058, Non-Residents and Income Tax, for the special rules that apply)

• You were a non-resident of Canada throughout 2025 reporting rental income from real or immovable property in Canada or timber royalties on a timber resource property or a timber limit in Canada, see Guide T4144, Income Tax Guide for Electing under Section 216
• You resided outside Canada in 2025, but kept significant residential ties with Canada, use the income tax package for the province or territory where you kept your residential ties

• You were a newcomer to Canada in 2025, use the income tax package for the province or territory where you resided on December 31, 2025 (for more information go to, Individuals – Leaving or entering Canada and non-residents)
• You emigrated from Canada during 2025, use the income tax package for the province or territory where you resided on the day you left Canada (go to Individuals – Leaving or entering Canada and non-residents for the special rules that apply)

Due dates

Your 2025 return and payment are due on or before the date below that applies to you:

• For most people, the return is due April 30, 2026, and payment is due April 30, 2026
• For a self-employed person (and their spouse or common-law partner who was living with them at any time in the year) with business expenditures that relate primarily to a tax shelter investment, the return is due April 30, 2026, and payment is due April 30, 2026
• For a self-employed person (and their spouse or common-law partner who was living with them at any time in the year) other than those listed above, the return is due June 15, 2026, and payment is due April 30, 2026
• For a deceased person (and their surviving spouse or common-law partner), the return due date depends on the date of death and whether they (or their spouse or common-law partner) were self employed. For more information, go to Doing taxes for someone who died

• For non-residents electing under section 217, see Section 217 return due date

• For non-residents electing under section 216.1, see Section 216.1 return due date

Exception

When a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday recognized by the CRA, your return is considered on time if the CRA receives it or if it is postmarked on or before the next business day. Your payment is considered on time if it is received on the first business day after the due date.

For more information, go to Due dates and payment dates. 

Penalties and interest

Penalties

The CRA may charge a penalty if any of the following applies:

• You filed your return late and owe tax for 2025
• You failed to report an amount on your 2025 return and also failed to report an amount on your return for 2022, 2023 or 2024
• You knowingly, or under circumstances amounting to gross negligence, made a false statement or an omission on your 2025 return

The late filing penalty may be higher if the CRA issued a demand to file the return and assessed a late filing penalty on a return for tax year 2022, 2023 or 2024.

Non-residents electing under section 217

If you file your 2025 section 217 return after June 30, 2026, your election will not be valid. For more information, see Section 217 return due date.

Non-residents electing under section 216.1

If you file your section 216.1 return after the due date, your election will not be valid. For more information, see Section 216.1 return due date.

Interest on your balance owing

If you have a balance owing for 2025, the CRA will charge compound daily interest on any unpaid amount owing for 2025 starting the day after the balance is due. This includes any balance owing if the CRA reassesses your return.

Interest on your refund

The CRA will pay compound daily interest on your tax refund for 2025 in some situations. The calculation will start on the latest of the following three dates:

• the 30th day after the balance due date for the tax year
• the 30th day after you file your return
• the day you overpaid your taxes

Cancel or waive penalties and interest

The CRA administers legislation, commonly called taxpayer relief provisions, that gives the CRA the discretion to cancel or waive penalties and interest when taxpayers cannot meet their tax obligations due to circumstances beyond their control.

The CRA's discretion is limited to any period that ends within 10 calendar years before the year the request is made.

Penalities

The CRA will consider your request only if it relates to a tax year or fiscal period ending in any of the 10 calendar years before the year you make your request. For example, your request made in 2025 must relate to a penalty for a tax year or fiscal period ending in 2015 or later.

Interest on a balance owing

The CRA will consider only the amounts that accrued during the 10 calendar years before the year you make your request. For example, your request made in 2025 must relate to interest that accrued in 2015 or later.

Taxpayer relief requests can be made online using the CRA's My Account, My Business Account (MyBA) or Represent a Client digital services.

You can also fill out Form RC4288, Request for Taxpayer Relief – Cancel or Waive Penalties and Interest, and send it:

• online using My Account, MyBA or Represent a Client
• by mail to the designated office, as shown on the last page of the form, based on your place of residence.

For information about submitting documents online, go to Submit documents online. For more information about cancelling or waiving penalties and interest, go to Cancel or waive penalties or interest.

Sending your return to the CRA

Use the address provided in the Contact the CRA section to mail your return to your tax centre.

If you prepare your return or other people’s returns, mail each person’s return in a separate envelope. However, if you file returns for more than one year for the same person, put them all in one envelope.

Section 216.1 return

If you provide services in the film and television industry and are electing to file a Canadian tax return under section 216.1, send your return to the Film Services Unit that serves the province or territory where the services were provided. You can find the addresses of the offices at Film and media tax credits.

Get help doing your taxes

The following services may help you complete your tax return based on your personal tax situation.

Individual enquiries by phone

For telephone numbers see, Contact the Canada Revenue Agency and hours of services go to, Contact the CRA.

If you work in the film or video production industry and you need more information, go to Film and media tax credits for telephone numbers, fax numbers, and addresses for the film services units.

Teletypewriter (TTY) and Video Relay Service (VRS) users

If you use a TTY for a hearing or speech impairment, call 1-800-665-0354.

Register with Canada VRS to download the app, by going to Get started with Canada VRS, and call the VRS line.

If you use an operator-assisted relay service, call one of the CRA's regular telephone numbers instead of the TTY or Canada VRS numbers.

Gather your documents

Gather all of the information slips, receipts and supporting documents that you need to report your income and claim any deductions, credits or expenses.

Missing slips or receipts

File your return on time even if you do not have all of your slips or receipts. You are responsible for reporting your income from all sources to avoid any penalties and interest that could be charged.

If you have not received your slips by early April or if you have questions about an amount on a slip, contact the payer.

If you know you will not be able to get a missing information slip by the due date, use your final pay stub or statement to estimate your income and deductions, credits, and expenses that you can claim. Enter the estimated amounts on the appropriate lines of your return.

Electing under section 217 

Canadian payers must withhold non-resident tax on certain types of Canadian-source income that they pay or credit to non-residents of Canada. If you are a non-resident, the tax withheld is usually your final tax obligation to Canada on this income. However, you can choose to file a Canadian return to report certain types of Canadian-source income by electing under section 217 of the Income Tax Act.

By making a section 217 election, you pay tax on your Canadian-source income at the same rate as Canadian residents and may receive a refund for all or part of the non-resident tax withheld.

Reducing tax withheld

If you filed Form NR5, Application by a Non-Resident of Canada for a Reduction in the Amount of Non-Resident Tax Required to be Withheld, for the year, and the CRA approved it, you generally have to file a section 217 return by June 30 of the year following each year of the period covered by the approved Form NR5. For more information, see Electing under Section 217.

Eligible section 217 income

The section 217 election applies to the following types of Canadian-source income:

• old age security (OAS) pension

• Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) benefits
• most superannuation and pension benefits
• most registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) payments
• most pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) payments
• most registered retirement income fund (RRIF) payments
• death benefits
• employment insurance (EI) benefits
• certain retiring allowances
• registered supplementary unemployment benefit plan payments
• most deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP) payments
• amounts received from a retirement compensation arrangement or the purchase price of an interest in a retirement compensation arrangement
• prescribed benefits under a government assistance program
• Auto Pact benefits

Amounts you should not include

Do not include the following amounts when calculating your eligible section 217 income:

• any supplement received under the Old Age Security Act
• an amount transferred to acquire an annuity contract, registered pension plan, RRSP, PRPP, or RRIF following an authorization from the CRA
• an amount exempt under the Income War Tax Act
• any amount that can reasonably be considered to be attributable to services rendered while you were not resident in Canada and while you were not employed, or were only occasionally employed, in Canada

Section 217 return due date

Your 2025 section 217 return must be filed on or before June 30, 2026. However, if you have a balance owing for 2025, you must pay it on or before April 30, 2026, to avoid interest charges.

If you owe tax for 2025 and do not file your return for 2025 within the dates specified, the CRA will charge you a late-filing penalty. The CRA will also charge compound daily interest starting May 1, 2026, on any unpaid amounts owing for 2025.

If you file your 2025 return after June 30, 2026, the CRA cannot accept your section 217 election according to the Income Tax Act.

If you file late and the required amount of non-resident tax was withheld on your eligible section 217 income, the CRA will consider the amount withheld to be your final tax obligation to Canada on that income. However, if the payer withheld less than the required amount of tax, the CRA will send you a notice of assessment for the difference.

If, in addition to the eligible section 217 income, you are reporting:

• other Canadian-source income, such as a taxable capital gain from disposing of taxable Canadian property, or if you have to pay tax on employment income you are reporting, you must file your return on or before April 30, 2026 (for more information, see Due dates).
• business income and you have to pay tax on that income, you must file the return on or before June 15, 2026

Completing your section 217 return

Before you start, gather all of the documents you need to complete your return, including your information slips (such as your NR4 slips), receipts for any deductions or credits you want to claim, and the following forms found in this tax package:

• Income Tax and Benefit Return for Non-Residents and Deemed Residents of Canada
• Federal Worksheet for Non-Residents and Deemed Residents of Canada
• Schedule A, Statement of World Income
• Schedule B, Allowable Amount of Federal Non-Refundable Tax Credits
• Schedule C, Electing under Section 217 of the Income Tax Act

To complete your return, follow these instructions:

1 – At the top of page 1 of your return, write "Section 217"

2 – Complete the Identification and other information section of your return using the instructions.

3 – Report the following income on your return:

• all eligible section 217 income paid or credited to you in 2025
• your 2025 Canadian-source employment and business income, net Canadian partnership income if you are a limited or non-active partner, and any taxable capital gains from disposing of taxable Canadian property, if applicable

4 – Complete Part 1 of Schedule C, Electing under Section 217 of the Income Tax Act

5 – Claim only the deductions on lines 20700 to 25600 of your return that apply to you

6 – Complete Schedule A, Statement of World Income

7 – Complete Step 5 of your return to calculate your federal tax as follows:

• Claim the federal non-refundable tax credits on lines 30000 to 34900 of your return that apply to you
• When calculating your federal tax, enter whichever amount is more on line 71 of your return:
  • your taxable income from line 26000 of your return
  • your net world income after adjustments from line 16 of Schedule A
• Complete Schedule B, Allowable Amount of Federal Non-Refundable Tax Credits, and enter the result on line 127 of your return
• Calculate and enter the amount of surtax for non-residents of Canada and deemed residents of Canada on line 132 of your return
• Complete Part 2 of Schedule C to calculate the section 217 tax adjustment (line 41450 of your return) if the amount you entered on line 71 of your return is the same as the amount entered on line 16 of your Schedule A

8 – Complete lines 42000 to 43500 of your return, if they apply to you

9 – On line 43700 of your return, enter the non-resident tax withheld on your eligible section 217 income (from your NR4 slips) as well as any other amounts withheld as shown on your information slips for any other Canadian-source income you are reporting on your return

10 - Complete the rest of your return

Attach your information slips and all completed schedules to your return. If you file your return without attaching your schedules and supporting documents, the processing of your return may be delayed.

If you file your section 217 return on time, the CRA will refund any tax withheld that is more than the amount you owe. For more information, see, Electing under Section 217.

Electing under section 216.1 

If you are a non-resident actor, a non-resident withholding tax of 23% applies to amounts paid, credited, or provided as a benefit to you for film and video acting services rendered in Canada. Generally, the non-resident withholding tax is considered your final tax obligation to Canada on that income. However, you can choose to report this income on a Canadian income tax return for 2025 by electing under section 216.1 of the Income Tax Act. In doing so, you may receive a refund of all or part of the non-resident tax withheld on this income.

Reducing tax withheld

If you intend to elect under section 216.1, you can apply for a reduction to the required amount of non-resident tax withheld on amounts paid, credited or provided as a benefit to you for film and video acting services rendered in Canada. You must apply before you provide the acting services in Canada.

To apply, file Form T1287, Application by a Non-Resident of Canada (Individual) for a Reduction in the Amount of Non-Resident Tax Required to be Withheld on Income Earned From Acting in a Film or Video Production, or Form T1288, Application by a Non-Resident of Canada (Corporation) for a Reduction in the Amount of Non-Resident Tax Required to be Withheld on Income Earned From Acting in a Film or Video Production.

For more information, go to Film and media tax credits.

Section 216.1 return due date

Generally, if you choose to file a return under section 216.1, your 2025 return must be filed on or before April 30, 2026.

If you are a self-employed individual, your 2025 return must be filed on or before June 15, 2026. However, if you have a balance owing for 2025, you still have to pay it on or before April 30, 2026. For more information, see Due dates.

Completing your section 216.1 return

At the top of page 1 of your return, write "Section 216.1 (ACTOR'S ELECTION)".

Send your return to the Non-resident services section of your tax services office. For more information, see Film and media tax credits.

If you file your return after the due date, your election will not be valid. The 23% non-resident withholding tax will be considered the final tax obligation to Canada on that income.

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