Line 255 - Do you qualify?

To qualify, you must have lived, on a permanent basis, in a prescribed northern or intermediate zone for a continuous period of at least six consecutive months. This period can begin or end in the year under review. 

A person who died in the year qualifies if he or she lived in a prescribed zone for six months or more before the date of death.

Your period of residency is not affected if you moved from one place in a prescribed zone directly to another place in a prescribed zone. See publication T4039 to make sure that your current residence, former residence, or both, are in a prescribed zone.  

In most cases, absences from a prescribed zone do not affect your period of residency as long as you lived in a prescribed zone on a permanent basis.  

If you lived in a prescribed zone for work-related reasons while your principal place of residence was not in a prescribed zone, you may have lived in the prescribed zone on a temporary basis. To determine whether you lived in the prescribed zone on a permanent or a temporary basis, we consider the number of your absences from the prescribed zone, as well as the purpose and length of your absences. Contact us for more information.  

If you have not lived in a prescribed zone for six consecutive months at the time you file your income tax return, you do not yet qualify. File your return without making the claim. When you qualify, you can ask us to adjust your tax return. See How to change your tax and benefit return.

Forms and publications

• General Income Tax and Benefit Guide
• Northern Residents Deductions - Places in Prescribed Zones publication (T4039)
• Form T2222, Northern Residents Deductions