CRA said I contributed to my TFSA as a non-Canadian citizen because the forms I did with this site suggested I'm new. They are now charging me thousands as an immigrant.

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
September 10, 2025
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Apparently my tax forms I did with Turbo tax made their system not recognize me as a citizen of Canada for my whole life even though I left for under 6 months. Now they want to charge me as a non-resident and said I contributed to a TFSA because when I returned to Canada and hadn't switched me house here, banking, phone number or anything, their system still thought I was new and shouldn't have had any money in a TFSA.

TurboTax_Susan

Level 15

Citizenship doesn't matter for tax purposes, only your residency status. You can be a Canadian citizen but not a resident, or citizen of a different country, but still be considered a resident for tax purposes.

One of the first questions that TurboTax asks is if you are a resident, deemed resident or non-resident, so you would want to check your return to see what you answered. What you enter for residency status in TurboTax just tells the software what forms you need for your return. It doesn't change what the CRA believes your residency status is. If you believe the CRA has incorrectly labeled you a non-resident, then you would need to contact them to see how you can resolve that matter.

If you are in Canada or the United States, you can call the CRA at 1-800-959-8281. If you are elsewhere, you can call 613-940-8495. This page has more ways to contact the CRA: Contact the Canada Revenue Agency