Abroad for 1 year - income tax questn?

[atozee]

Hi, I'm sure others have travelled, backpacked and worked abroad. I was out of the country in 2008 and part of 2007. I travelled (couchsurfed), lived with relatives, taught english privately, worked as an au pair and used up my savings to stay as long as possible. I wasn't planning to file a tax form for 2008 since I was not in Canada and had no 2008 permanent address, no loans here and even cancelled my OHIP. The gov't tax website is vague and confusing. Anyone out there in a similar situation bother to fill in tax forms for while they were away or encountered problems with them? Any advice appreciated.

[YYC27]

The CRA has a guide on this: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/t4131/README.html

The gist of it seems to be that, in order to be considered a non-resident for tax purposes, you must sever all ties in Canada, and establish some form of permanent presence in another country.

[CUVShopper]

There is no clear answer, but here are a couple links to help you decide:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/flng-blgtns/menu-eng.html

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/flng-blgtns/bnfts/menu-eng.html

If it was me, I would file a return, even if it is zero, that way they have a record that you filed a return for every year.