Non-Residents for Tax Purposes Individuals can define their residency in two ways: immigration residency and tax residency. An individual's tax residency determines to which country the individual pays taxes. The Canada Revenue Agency determines whether an individual is a Canadian tax resident based on the individual's residential ties to Canada and other countries based on the Canadian Income Tax Act and any applicable tax treaties. A Canadian tax resident may break their residential ties with Canada and become tax resident of another country while continuing to receive income from Canada. In these cases, Canada may continue to tax the income deemed to be coming