NR4 Form: What It Is, Who Needs One, and How to File (2026)

The NR4 is a CRA information slip issued to non-residents of Canada who received Canadian-source income subject to Part XIII withholding tax. It serves the same role as a T4 (employment income) or T5 (investment income) — except it is filed for non-residents, and the income types covered are the categories CRA taxes at source.

For non-resident landlords, the NR4 typically reports gross rent received in box 16 and Canadian tax withheld in box 17 (the default 25% Part XIII rate, unless you have an NR6 in place reducing it).

You receive an NR4 from your payer — typically the Canadian property manager or resident agent who collected your rent and remitted withholding to CRA on your behalf. You use the NR4 to support your Canadian tax return (if you elect to file one under Section 216) and as evidence of foreign tax paid on your home-country return for the foreign tax credit.

The NR4 is issued by whoever paid you the income subject to Part XIII tax — and that party is also legally responsible for making the withholding remittance. For non-resident rental income, the NR4 issuer is usually one of:

• Your Canadian property manager. If you have a property management company collecting rent and remitting the net amount to you, they are the resident agent and they issue the NR4.
• A resident agent you appointed. If you do not have a property manager but appointed a Canadian individual or company to handle rent collection and withholding, they are the issuer.
• Your Canadian tenant directly. Technically if a tenant pays a non-resident landlord directly, the tenant is responsible for withholding. In practice almost no tenant does this — and CRA enforcement falls back on the recipient (you) when it breaks down. The right move is to appoint a resident agent.
• Your Canadian bank — for any interest income from Canadian deposits. Different income type, but the same NR4 mechanism applies.

Deadline: the NR4 must be issued to you and filed with CRA by the last day of February following the calendar year. So your 2025 NR4 lands by the end of February 2026.

The NR4 has a small number of boxes that matter, surrounded by fields like your name, address, and the issuer's identity. The numbers to check first:

• Box 14 — Income code. For real-property rental income, this is code 11. Other codes cover interest, dividends, royalties, and other Part XIII categories. Wrong code = wrong tax treatment.
• Box 15 — Currency code. Almost always CAD for Canadian rental income. If you see a foreign currency code on a Canadian rental NR4, ask the issuer to correct it.
• Box 16 — Gross income. The total Canadian dollars of rent paid to you for the year, before withholding. Cross-check against your own rent records — discrepancies here cause the most issues at filing time.
• Box 17 — Non-resident tax withheld. The Canadian tax remitted to CRA on your behalf. Default is 25% of gross (Part XIII rate). If you had an NR6 in place, this should be 25% of net rent instead.
• Box 12 — Country code. Your country of residence (US, GB, etc.) — used by CRA for treaty determinations.
• Box 27 — Exemption code. If you qualified for a treaty rate reduction or exemption, the code goes here.

Verify all six fields against your records the moment the NR4 arrives. Errors are common and they are easier to correct in March than in April.

Here is why every non-resident landlord eventually learns to care about NR6 and Section 216:

Canadian Part XIII withholding is 25% of gross rent. Not net. Gross. Before any expenses are considered.

On a $2,000/month rental property generating $24,000 gross rent per year, the default withholding is $6,000 CAD per year. That is what your NR4 shows in box 17.

But your actual Canadian tax owing on the same property — after deducting mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, repairs, management fees, and other deductible expenses — is often less than half that. A typical net-income calculation might leave $8,000 of taxable net rental income, which at federal-plus-provincial rates for a non-resident usually lands around $1,800 of actual tax owing.

$6,000 withheld vs $1,800 actually owed = $4,200 over-withheld every year. That money sits with CRA until you file a Section 216 return to claim the refund.

Use our CRA Part XIII Remittance Calculator to see what your specific withholding looks like — gross-method (default) versus net-method (with NR6 in place).

The NR6 form(Undertaking to File a Section 216 Income Tax Return) is the pre-fix. Filed before the start of the calendar year, it tells CRA: “I will file a Section 216 return at year-end, so authorize my withholding agent to withhold 25% on net rent (rent minus expected expenses) instead of 25% on gross.”

CRA reviews the NR6, confirms your projected expenses are reasonable, and issues approval to your withholding agent. The monthly withholding then drops from 25% of gross to 25% of projected net — usually a fraction of the original amount.

Using the example above ($24,000 gross rent, $16,000 expected expenses):

• Without NR6: 25% × $24,000 = $6,000 withheld annually ($500/mo)
• With NR6: 25% × $8,000 net = $2,000 withheld annually ($167/mo)

Deadline: file NR6 before January 1 of the year you want it to apply, OR before the first rent payment of the year for a new property. Late NR6 filings are not accepted retroactively for in-year reduction; you would just file Section 216 at year-end to claim the over-withheld amount back.

The Section 216 return is the post-fix. Whether or not you had NR6 in place, filing a Section 216 return at year-end lets you compute Canadian tax on net rental income (after expenses) and reconcile that against what was withheld at source.

Mechanically, you file a regular T1 return as a non-resident with T776 attached, but explicitly making the Section 216 election. You report:

• Gross rent in CAD
• Deductible expenses in CAD (per T776 categories)
• Net rental income
• Canadian tax owing on that net amount
• Tax withheld at source (per the NR4 box 17)
• Refund (if withheld > owed) or balance due (if owed > withheld)

Refunds typically arrive 90-120 days after filing. Deadline: two years after the end of the tax year. So your 2025 Section 216 return is due by December 31, 2027 — but most landlords file along with their regular annual filing in April-June 2026.

Section 216 is the standard play for any non-resident landlord with meaningful rental expenses. Skipping it leaves money with CRA permanently.

If you are a US person (citizen, green card holder, or US tax resident) earning Canadian rental income, the NR4 is also an input to your US tax return — specifically the foreign tax credit calculation.

On your US 1040, the Canadian rental income shows on Schedule E (converted to USD), and the Canadian tax actually paid (per Section 216 reconciliation, not just the gross NR4 box 17 amount) becomes a foreign tax credit on Form 1116. The credit reduces your US tax dollar-for-dollar — capped at the US tax that would have been owing on that income.

Important: the foreign tax credit is based on actual Canadian tax paid, not on the gross withholding amount in NR4 box 17. If you were over-withheld and recovered the difference via Section 216, only the net amount counts as foreign tax for credit purposes. The IRS will not let you credit tax you got refunded.

For Canadian-resident landlords (not US persons), the NR4 is primarily a Canadian-side document — used in the Section 216 return reconciliation and not relevant to a US filing.

The mistakes that cost the most money:

1. Tenant not withholding. A non-resident landlord with a tenant paying rent directly — and no resident agent in the middle — almost always ends up with the tenant failing to withhold. CRA holds both parties liable. The fix is to formally appoint a Canadian resident agent (any Canadian property manager will do this for a fee).
2. Wrong income code. Box 14 should be code 11 for real-property rental. Code 14 (other rental income), code 09 (dividends), or anything else changes the tax treatment and the rate.
3. Missing the NR6 deadline. Filing NR6 in March of the same year does not retroactively reduce January-March withholding. You can still file Section 216 at year-end to recover, but the NR6 deadline is January 1 for a reason.
4. Not filing Section 216 at all. Some non-resident landlords assume the 25% gross withholding is the final word. It is not. Section 216 can recover thousands of dollars per year for any landlord with real expenses.
5. Income amount mismatch. If your NR4 box 16 does not match your own rent records, file a corrected NR4 with the issuer before filing your tax return. Discrepancies get flagged and the matching exercise during a CRA review is worse than fixing it upfront.

Free calculators and references for non-resident landlords:

• CRA Part XIII Remittance Calculator — see your monthly withholding, with and without NR6, across multiple properties
• Section 216 form guide — how to file, what to include, what to expect
• NR4 form reference page — every box, every code, every deadline
• Section 216 deep-dive topic — the strategy and edge cases
• Part XIII withholding deep-dive — the broader withholding rules NR4 is part of
• For American Landlords with Canadian Property — full picture for US-resident landlords

BorderBird tracks NR4 income automatically using the CRA 15th-of-month rule. The Remittances page shows your Part XIII withholding in real time, supports NR6 net-rent elections, and exports the Section 216 supporting data your accountant needs. Try it free — one property, one full year, no credit card.

Related reading:

• Canadian Rental Property in Florida: 2026 Tax Guide
• Canadian Rental Property in Arizona: 2026 Tax Guide
• T776 Rental Income Form: Complete Guide
• FIRPTA Withholding: Complete Guide for Canadian Sellers
• Canadian Owning Rental Property in the US: Complete 2026 Guide