Foreign Spouses/ Income Filing- Very Important for you to know 2011

[HoneyBird]

Hi Everyone!

I haven't posted in a long time, but I thought I give you a heads up for when filing for income for the FUTURE.
My hubby filed income tax for 2010 and the following letter is what we received from the Tax people:-

"We cannot calculate the amount to which you may be entitled for June 2011.
If you send us the following information, we will process it and inform you if you are entitled:
: Your spouse's name and social no.
:a written document, signed both by you and your spouse, confiming your marriage and date of union.

We need to know the amount of your spouse's 2010 net income so that we can calculate your credit. If this individual imigrated during or after 2010 we need the date of entry and the world income earned before he or she came to canada with the amount converted to Canadian Dollars.

Send this info to the tax centre shown."

So even IF you are living apart from your spouse!!!! They require the information. As you are part of the household living in two different countries.

Thus I am telling you guys to be very careful in filling out the information, ensure that your spouse has a copies of their income tax when they are  migrating to Canada so when you file for 2011 you will not have this problem. As I had to make numerous calls to get this information from Trinidad! Canada post did not help either!

Kind regards!
Honey Bird!

[CharlieD10]

Yep, my husband's accountant asked him for my 2010 income and tax information, and I scanned her a copy of my Certificate of Income and Tax Deducted for 2010 (called a P24 in Jamaica).  When I left my job this year, I also insisted on receiving a Certificate of Leaving to show my income and tax deductions to date for 2011 (a P45). 

My husband already changed his status to married with Revenue Canada by submitting a copy of our marriage certificate to them as soon as he returned to Canada after we got married.  They told him he had to file as married for 2010, even though we got married part-way into the year.



 

[HoneyBird]

We are hoping to get some money from the Government..after all...when you convert..my salary is less than the minimum wage per hour when calculated.
the money I will take to go on vacation.

[HoneyBird]

Yep, my husband's accountant asked him for my 2010 income and tax information, and I scanned her a copy of my Certificate of Income and Tax Deducted for 2010 (called a P24 in Jamaica).  When I left my job this year, I also insisted on receiving a Certificate of Leaving to show my income and tax deductions to date for 2011 (a P45). 

My husband already changed his status to married with Revenue Canada by submitting a copy of our marriage certificate to them as soon as he returned to Canada after we got married.  They told him he had to file as married for 2010, even though we got married part-way into the year.



 

How  much did he get back? We were married mid year too. We are hoping it would be a few hundred dollars. :0

[chelley]

For those with kids who sponsored spouses, while your spouse is out of country you can still claim your child as eligible dependents (the old equivalent to spouse) along with all the other child related credits...

My tax return for 2009 (the year we married, but before he arrived in Canada) was over $7000... I was also on mat leave for 5 months which helped as well

[lonelyinca]

$7000? what field are you in?

[chelley]

I write business propsal for a BPO company... The 5 months of mat leave and high RRSP contribution helped... As did claiming my daughter as equivalent to spouse (that to the tune of 3500 alone)..
 

[Stumpedmom]

I have mentioned this before, you have to report it, but for GST, CTC and the like the non resident spousal income does not affect you.  The only one that is affected is the Osttb...which is the "bribery check" or the HST check for those of you in Ontario....

I was able to claim my son as the Equivalent to spouse for last year but that will be the last whether my husband is here or not...or thats what I am told by CRA....and they are about as reliable as CIC when it comes to giving proper information...I have left all of that stuff to my MP to deal with as I get too frustrated.....

[HoneyBird]

Whats CTC? Osttb? Can I claim my clothes that I bought/education/tickets as part of my move to toronto and part of my tax?

[Stumpedmom]

CTC-child tax credit
OSTTB-Ontario Sales Tax Transitio Benefit


And I was misinformed (surprise surprise) by the CRA....the only one that is not affected is the GST.  I just called again, and was told that my CTC is affected whether or not hubs lives here!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

[Love_Young]

For those with kids who sponsored spouses, while your spouse is out of country you can still claim your child as eligible dependents (the old equivalent to spouse) along with all the other child related credits...

My tax return for 2009 (the year we married, but before he arrived in Canada) was over $7000... I was also on mat leave for 5 months which helped as well

Yes, it definitely important to know all the credits you are eligible for. The first year we filed, we didn't know much at all but this year we studied and asked A LOT of questions and found out we were eligible for a lot more than we would have thought. Granted, we don't have children (yet!) but for this years tax return we got over $3,000. Not including the over $300 we got from GST.

So take your time to study and ask questions, it is definitely worth it.

[HoneyBird]

Well my hubby did not apply for me as a Spouse dependent since really and truely he never supported me. I was making enough money to not require his help. In this regard, he felt that if he had said that I was his dependent then they would ask for proof that he did in fact support me. Which was none. Additionally in the spousal application we stated that he did not support me.

So we were surprised when we got this letter asking about my income and so forth for a rebate. He actually didn't even want to send the information! But then figured that they would just keep bugging us on it.

I have a feeling we would of gotton alot of money if he just stated i was his dependent. But we learn right? And my hubby is so straight nose that he never ever cheats. EVER.

[CharlieD10]

Hmph.  Revenue Canada just sent my husband letters asking to see my income tax information for 2010 to determine his indebtedness or lack thereof concerning me. Mwhahaha, good thing we were pro-active and I had already sent that to his accountant.  All he needs to do is take the letters to her, she deals with it.

For tax purposes, although I work, I have always been his dependent.  We get no concessions for it here in Jamaica, I figure we should take advantage of any concessions offered in Canada, if any, LOL.  As my late boss and mentor always said, tax evasion is criminal, tax avoidance is smart financial planning. 

[notverypatient]

my gst and cctb and cdb were stopped because they needed my husband(the applicant)'s canadian income tax for 2010.... he entered canada most recently on december 20, 2010, but was here for 6 months earlier in the year of 2010. i asked cra, i asked cic, i asked when i did my own taxes in march, if my husband needed to do them for any reason, they all said no.

i had to spend hours on the phone to find out what cra was even asking me for information, sent 2 letters to them with the same info they kept requesting, and finally after drilling an agent over the phone they found a tiny little note about getting a temporary tax number and filing canadian income tax. then i was directed to the international tax services to apply for a temp. tax number, which would take months to do. the next time i called cra, they already HAD a temp number on file, and they gave that to me and i took it to get income tax done for my husband.

first time income tax processing with a temp number can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 16 weeks, so they tell me, but thats a potential 2 month to 4 month ordeal with no extra support from child tax for my disabled son. and they werent even planning on sending me a letter until the end of july, and i was calling at the end of june. they had a letter typed up ready to tell me a month later.

i'd rather them give me the same amount they had calculated on file and then charge me for overpayment than strip away disability benefits for a child

does anyone know how long income tax for 2010 takes to process through something like this?

[chelley]

i never had to get a temporary tax number for my husband when he was out of the country... all that was required was a world income form and a quick letter of explaination stating that my husband was not a canadian resident...

not sure how it works for those who have been living here, but if they are technically visiting i'd say it's the same process...

i've personally had great luck with revenue canada call centre... thus far at least