HELP! GST re-evaluation after reporting change in marital status to CRA

[ariell]

Help! I am completely confused by this.

A few months ago, I updated Canada Revenue of my change in marital status from single to married and indicated that my husband and I married in June 2008 (in India).

Today I got a letter from CRA saying that they have reviewed my entitlement for GST for July 2008 to April 2009 and that they are unable to determine if I am still entitled to the GST credit because they don't have "all of the necessary information". They want a letter that indicates my husband's net income for 2007 to determine if I am still eligible to keep the GST credit or if I have to repay it.

I just got off the phone with someone at CRA who was completely useless so I thought I would ask here. She just kept repeating the same  thing like she was reading her answer out of a book. So frustrating.

Why do I have to show his 2007 net income?? We didn't marry until 2008 and he didn't come to Canada (as a PR) until the end of March 2009. He was living in India up to that point. We didn't even meet until July 2007, so what relevance is it what he made in 2007?? Do I simply write a letter stating what his income was or do I need some sort of documentation.

Any thoughts would be  greatly appreciated!

[toby]

I think the issue is this.

If you are a single person, and earning a low income, you are entitled to a refund of at least somem of the GST tax you paid. But if your spouse is earning a high income, you don't get the GST refund. So, they want to know your husband's income.

CRA asks for your husband's 2007 income, not 2008 income, so that if he is filing his 2008 return later than you, they can make a decison on your 2008 return right away. That's my surmise, anyway.

If your husband is working outside Canada, you could state his net (taxable) income in a cover letter, or even attach a copy of his 2007 tax return or (better yet) his 2007 tax assessment.

[Suin]

if a spouse is a foreign citizen, what his income has to to with Canada, if he paid all the taxes in his country? something is definitely wrong here.

[ariell]

CRA asks for your husband's 2007 income, not 2008 income, so that if he is filing his 2008 return later than you, they can make a decison on your 2008 return right away. That's my surmise, anyway.

Well, that still doesn't make sense to me.    We hadn't even met until July 2007 and didn't marry until the following year, so to me, whatever he was making as a single person shouldn't even matter. And he only came to Canada in 2009 so it should only be at that point that his income is relevant for CR purposes.

Anyway, long story short.. I sent a letter explaining everything that was asked and CR still took back my GST credit (they deducted it from my 2008 return). But after several phone calls they finally admitted that I am in fact entitled to the credit and will be returning it to me with interest in January. Let's see if that actually happens......

[Suin]

good news, ariell. please keep us informed.

[toby]

This is one more example of how the bureaucracy can mess up a simple idea.  The idea is that if you are a low-income person, you get a rebate of some of the GST you paid. But if you have a spouse earning  enough to cumulatively put you above a certain threshhold, then you don't get the rebate.

Logistically they ask you for your spouse's worldwide income for the previous year because to get that figure for the current tax year might cause you to delay filing your tax return in Canada.  The bureaucratic box (they have to pass a course on how to never see outside the tunnel) does not allow them to take into account that for that one year your spouse was NOT your spouse the year before.

However, if he HAD been your spouse the year before, but not yet a resident of Canada, that would not have mattered. In this matter they are not interested in the taxes he paid in Canada; they care about how much financing you had as a couple, and (again) if it is high enough, you don't get the GST rebate.

Trying to explain that to an official paid peanuts to answer the telephone can be frustrating, I know. As my mother used to say when I got frustrated at such things, "if they were as smart as you they would not be doing that job!" I suspected a certain sarcasm at times, but that's a different point.

[louieong]

Hello, after reading all your post.

Is it safe to say, that one should not change your status till you file for your income tax 2011?

eg:

1) Married 2009, in the Philippines

2) Wife arrived Toronto July 2010

3) Then change status from single to married on income tax filling 2011?

 

[Stumpedmom]

I am going thru all this now, in Ontario you now get the Ontario Sales Tax Transition Benefit (HST). I got a letter from CRA stating that they received my marital status change (married July 2010) and they needed further information.  I called in back in September to clarify the letter because it didn't specify what information they needed.  I was advised at that time that because my husband is a non resident, nothing would be affected until he moved here.  I have now been informed that this transition benefit can not be figured out without the worldwide income.  This is the ONLY benefit that is affected by his income, until he moves here and becomes a PR or comes on a working visa. 

Thats my experience...

[jordankevin47]

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