First return
The first return is about the date you became a resident.
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Date of entry
On the return, you enter the date you became a resident of Canada for income tax purposes. CRA's completing your return for newcomers page uses a 2025 example: someone who established significant residential ties on June 8, 2025 enters that date. The newcomers page says that, for most people, residency starts the first day they live in Canada, once they have significant residential ties. This site does not decide that date for you. When you apply for benefits, the CRA may also ask for the date of entry.
World income, before and after arrival
Income from outside Canada that you earned before you became a resident is not taxed in Canada. That sentence is on the newcomers page. The same page says you need to report income earned outside Canada for up to two years before you became a resident, on a Statement of Income, so benefits can be calculated. That report is not the same thing as paying tax on it.
For the part of the year you were a resident, you report world income: income from inside and outside Canada. CRA's 10 March 2026 tax tip says that directly. The completing-return page says the same thing, and adds that some foreign pension income may be exempt under a tax treaty but still has to be reported, with the exempt part deducted on line 25600. The worked steps on that page are written for 2025.
Province on December 31
For income earned in 2026, CRA's current-year tax rates page says the provincial or territorial rate is set by where you live on December 31, 2026. The page Your province or territory of residence still describes the return people are filing now: the province where you lived on December 31, 2025, and the date of entry if you became or ceased to be a resident during 2025. The newcomers page says that if you live in Quebec, you also file a provincial return with Revenu Québec.
Deadlines that are actually printed
- Tax tip, 10 March 2026: if you arrived in 2026, file the 2026 return by April 30, 2027. If you arrived in 2025, file the 2025 return by April 30, 2026.
- The same tip, in its filing-season box: the due date it highlights is April 30, 2026. If you or your spouse or common-law partner were self-employed in 2025, file by June 15, 2026, and pay any balance by April 30, 2026.
- 2027 deadlines for self-employed individuals: filing deadline June 15, 2027. If the business expenditures were primarily tax-shelter investments, the filing deadline is April 30, 2027. Balances owing are due April 30, 2027. If a due date falls on a weekend or a CRA-recognized holiday, the return is on time when the CRA receives it, or it is postmarked, on the next business day.
- Due dates and payment dates currently titles its list "Filing dates for 2025 taxes": April 30, 2026 to file, June 15, 2026 if you or your spouse are self-employed, and April 30, 2026 to pay. It also lists March 2, 2026 as an RRSP deadline for that 2025 filing season. It does not list a 2026-year RRSP contribution deadline.
Benefits, and the forms newcomers use
You can qualify for benefit payments when you arrive, before the first return. To keep them, the March 2026 tax tip says you file every year, even with little or no income, and so does your spouse or common-law partner. The CRA uses the return to calculate the payments.
The newcomers page now calls the former GST/HST credit the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. New residents with no children apply on Web Form RC151. New residents with children under 19 use the PDF of RC151, or Form RC66 if they are applying for the Canada child benefit. RC66 also covers related provincial and territorial programs, and the CRA uses it for the groceries benefit as well. One application per household.
A temporary resident can start receiving the Canada child benefit in the 19th month they have lived in Canada, if they hold a valid permit and meet the other rules. That sentence is on the newcomers page. The page also lists provincial and territorial payments that can follow the federal benefit, including the Ontario trillium benefit and the provincial child benefits. It does not print a dollar amount next to a benefit year for those programs in the section reviewed here, so this guide does not repeat the maximums.
More of the first-year sequence is on the first-year checklist. Room that the notice of assessment will show for next year is on the RRSP year-one page.
Questions
If I arrived in 2026, when is the return due?
CRA's tax tip of 10 March 2026 says that if you arrived in 2026, you must file your 2026 tax return by April 30, 2027. The same tip says a 2025 arrival files the 2025 return by April 30, 2026. A separate CRA page sets June 15, 2027 as the filing deadline for self-employed individuals, and April 30, 2027 as the date balances owing must be paid.
Do I pay Canadian tax on money I earned before I arrived?
CRA's newcomers page says income you earned outside Canada before you became a resident is not taxed in Canada. You still report up to two years of that income on a Statement of Income so the CRA can calculate benefits. Income from outside Canada for the part of the year you were a resident does go on the tax return.
Which province taxes me?
For 2026, CRA's current-year rates page says provincial or territorial tax is determined by where you live on December 31, 2026. The guide for completing a newcomer return still illustrates the rule with 2025 dates, including the province where you lived on December 31, 2025. If you live in Quebec on that date, you also file with Revenu Québec.