Canada and U.S. tax filings and Canadian non-resident status

[Returning Canadian]

I have questions as to how I should file my U.S. and Canadian taxes for 2008. Here is a little context:

In March 2005 I moved from Canada to the U.S. At that time I was a Canadian citizen and U.S. green card holder and had just finished graduate school in Canada. When I moved from Canada I had few residential ties to Canada. I kept a bank account to make payments to a student loan and a credit card. Although I changed my address with the bank to a U.S. address, I did not have my status changed as a non-resident. Otherwise, I had no family, no property ownership, no rental residence, no occupation and no driver's license in Canada and I let my health card expire. My last Canadian tax return was in 2004 at which point I changed my address with CRA to my U.S. address. Other than that, I did little else that would support my non-resident status in Canada with CRA (i.e. I did not follow emigrant procedures or file a T1 etc. or submit NR73 - Determination of Residency Status)

In 2005, 2006 and 2007 I was working and living in the U.S. under my green card and filed U.S. taxes as a permanent resident. I did not file any Canadian taxes. I got my U.S. citizenship in late 2008 and given the job market in the U.S., I moved back to Canada in late 2008. In 2008 I earned income in both the U.S. and Canada.

Now, my questions are:

Canada
1. Will I be deemed a non-resident from March 2005 to late 2008 even though I did not file T1's as a non-resident, did not follow emigrant procedures with CRA and did not change my non-resident status with my Canadian bank account? How would I go about defending my stance? Should I go back and file T1's as a non-resident for 2005-2007?
2. If I am indeed deemed a non-resident during this time, will I only be taxed on the income I earned in Canada during that time (last quarter of 2008?
3. What should I file in Canada this year?

U.S.
1. Do I just file a 1040 and make sure to include foreign income?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[nelsona]

1. You will not be a deemed non-resident, you will be a NON-resident. You should have filed a departure return in 2005, with a departure date, but it still doeswn't chnage the fact that you were non-resident from the day you left (you had no major ties).

So in 2008, you are a returning resident, you write an arrival date on your T1

In US, you will continue to file a 1040 forever, reporting all world income, and can use 1116 to get tax credits and/or use 2555 to exclude your Cdn wages.

[Returning Canadian]

Many thanks for the response nelsona