Conrad Black: Resident Here, Resident There, Resident Everywhere?

It is common for an individual to be resident in more than one country at a given time (i.e., to be a "dual resident"). Where an individual is resident in Canada as well as another jurisdiction, the final determination of the individual's residence status for purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada) ("Act"), as a consequence of the possible application of subsection 250(5) of the Act, will generally require looking to the dual resident tie-breaker rules in Article 4 of Canada's tax treaties.¹ In other words, where subsection 250(5) applies, which is in most cases involving dual resident persons, the application of the treaty's dual resident tie-breaker rules in favour of the other country will cause the individual to be deemed a non-resident of Canada. In a recent Tax Court of Canada decision, Conrad Black v. The Queen, 2014 TCC 12, the Court dealt with the interaction between Canada's tax treaty dual resident tie-breaker rules and domestic laws in a fact situation