Lethbridge

Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients

Taxed14%–33% federal (2026) plus 4%–25.75% provincial or territorial

A resident's salary from a foreign employer and fees from foreign clients are taxed like Canadian income. The 2026 federal scale is 14% up to $58,523, 20.5% to $117,045, 26% to $181,440, 29% to $258,482 and 33% above. Bill C-4 cut the lowest rate from 15% to 14.5% for 2025 and to 14% from 2026. Provincial or territorial tax is added, based on where you live on 31 December. Quebec residents file a separate Quebec return (14% to 25.75%) and get a 16.5% reduction of federal tax. Self-employed people pay CPP of 11.9% on net earnings between $3,500 and $74,600 and 8% on earnings from $74,600 to $85,000 (Quebec has its own QPP). GST/HST registration is required once worldwide taxable sales, including zero-rated ones, pass $30,000 in a quarter or over four consecutive quarters. Most services exported to non-resident businesses are zero-rated, with special rules for advisory and consulting work. Tax paid abroad is credited. Whether CPP applies to a salary from a foreign employer is not covered here. Before you become resident, the catch is that a non-resident who works in Canada owes tax on employment income earned in Canada (s. 2(3)), meaning pay for work physically done there, unless a treaty exempts it. The US treaty, for example, exempts pay of up to $10,000, or stays of up to 183 days in 12 months when no Canadian resident or Canadian establishment bears the pay. The CRA expects employers to withhold even then, unless a waiver is granted.

On the nomad visa

Canada has no digital nomad visa. IRCC lets digital nomads working remotely for an employer outside Canada stay up to 6 months at a time with visitor status and no work permit. That stay has no tax status of its own. Days count toward the 183-day test, and ties such as a long-term home or a partner in Canada can make you resident sooner. While you are non-resident, pay for work done in Canada is still Canadian-source employment income, so check whether your country's treaty exempts it.

Dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions from abroad

TaxedOrdinary rates; half of capital gains is taxable, so up to about 27.4% on gains

Foreign interest, dividends, rent and pensions are added to your income and taxed at the same federal and provincial rates as salary. Foreign dividends do not get the dividend tax credit that Canadian dividends get, and you report the gross amount in Canadian dollars before foreign tax, then claim a foreign tax credit. Only half of a capital gain is taxable (Income Tax Act, s. 38(a)). The planned increase to two-thirds was cancelled on 21 March 2025 and Budget 2025 confirmed it will not proceed. A treaty may exempt part of a foreign pension. On arrival, property you own (except taxable Canadian property such as Canadian real estate) is treated as sold and bought back at market value, so only gains after you become resident are taxed. Keep a record of those values. From your second resident year, you must file Form T1135 if the total cost of your foreign property exceeds $100,000 at any time in the year. The catch comes when you leave: departure tax treats most of your assets as sold at market value, with exceptions for Canadian real estate and registered plans. If you were resident for 60 months or less in the previous 10 years, property you owned on arrival or inherited later is excluded.

Net wealth and inheritance

No wealth taxNo inheritance tax

Canada has no net wealth tax and no inheritance or gift tax. Instead, the income tax treats you as having sold your capital property at market value when you die, and the gain goes on your final return. Property left to a spouse or common-law partner who lives in Canada can roll over tax-deferred. A gift of property is also treated as a sale at market value (Income Tax Act, s. 69(1)(b)). Provinces charge probate fees: Ontario's Estate Administration Tax is $15 per $1,000 of estate value above $50,000. Provincial land transfer taxes and municipal property taxes vary and are not detailed here. The federal Underused Housing Tax has been eliminated from 2025. A federal ban stops most people who are not citizens or permanent residents from buying residential property; it was extended in 2024 to 1 January 2027, and any later extension was not verified.

Tax resident after

183 days a year

Top income tax rate

53.53%

When you become tax resident

There are two routes. You are a factual resident from the day you set up significant residential ties in Canada: a home, a spouse or common-law partner, or dependants there. Secondary ties such as belongings, bank accounts, a driver's licence or provincial health insurance also count. In your arrival year you are taxed on worldwide income only from that day. Without such ties, you are a deemed resident for the whole year if you stay in Canada 183 days or more in the calendar year (Income Tax Act, s. 250(1)(a)). Deemed residents are taxed on worldwide income and pay a 48% federal surtax instead of provincial tax. If you are also resident in a treaty country and the treaty tie-breaker gives residence to that country, you are deemed non-resident (s. 250(5)). A nomad on a visitor stay of under 183 days who keeps their home abroad is normally non-resident. Renting a long-term home and bringing your partner can make you resident from arrival. Form NR74 asks the CRA for an opinion.

Top income tax rate

Toronto, 2026: federal 33% above $258,482 plus Ontario's top rate of 13.16% (from $220,000), raised by Ontario's surtax of 20% and 36% on provincial tax above $5,818 and $7,446 to 20.53%; together about 53.53% above $258,482. There is no municipal income tax. Across the country the combined top rate ranges from 44.5% in Nunavut to 54.8% in Newfoundland and Labrador (above $1,141,275); it is 54% in Nova Scotia, 53.5% in British Columbia, about 53.31% in Quebec (after the 16.5% federal abatement) and 48% in Alberta. A deemed resident with no province pays 33% plus the 48% surtax, about 48.84%.