Canada-Australia residency & tax questions

[CdninAus]

Hi,
I’ve got some questions about residency and tax issues between Canada and Australia.

I'm Canadian and my husband is an Australian citizen with permanent residency in Canada. We relocated to Australia in September 2010 so my husband could take a 10 month work contract. I came to Australia on a one year tourist visa. We left a furnished house in Canada, which we rented out on a short-term basis. We also have a house here in Australia, which has been rented out through a property management company for the last 10 years. We are currently living in a rental property. There is a possibility that my husband's contract will be extended, which will mean we will be here longer term.

My questions are: where are we considered to be residents and what are the tax implications? As a Canadian citizen with some income from Canada and here on a tourist visa I am confident that I am still a Canadian resident and plan to file my taxes as such. But I'm not sure about my husband, as he is an Australian citizen working in Australia with income and assets here, is he now an Australian resident? From a tax perspective it would be better if he was as he would benefit from salary packaging, sales of shares, etc. But, what are the implications for his Canadian permanent residency? As a married couple, can we be residents of two different countries? Is there any distinction between being a "resident" and being a "resident for tax purposes"?

Thanks for any wisdom you have to share.

Andrea

[nelsona]

You are australian tax residents, since you have rented out your Cdn home.
You should both file departure returns, based on the date you left canada.
You should be properly having tax withheld on the renatl income in canada every month. See the emigrants guide from CRA.

Being tax non-resident of canada has no bearing on his PR status. He is allowed to be physically outside Canada for 3 years before he would lose this, and even longer is you get job there.