Applying without taxes being filed

[puredrive99]

Hi Guys,

Need some help/advice! I just graduated from university a couple of months ago and now working full time. During my university, i did tons of pad internships but never applied for taxes as since i was a student, i thought it wasn't mandatory to do so. I did not get tax deducted since i figures the that will be fine against my tuition credits.

I plan to apply for my citizenship this week, is it alright if i mention in my cover letter regarding the absence of my taxes filed? Is there a chance that my application can be considered complete, without the proof of taxes being filed? I plan to file them coming January/Feb.

Thanks,

Shayan.

 

[robw]

If you didn't owe the CRA any taxes during any of the past 5 years, you can just check the No box under "Required to File" in Section 6J of the application. Simple as that. No need to explain anything.

That said, you should probably go ahead and backfile all your previous years' taxes if you want to be able to claim tuition credits in the future. Those are very valuable.

 

[devilhimselff]

I disagree. You have to file taxes even if your income is zero. In your case you did paid internships, that will require T4 or whatever is equivalent.

Application won't be complete, if you don't submit taxes. In my opinion.

You can do all taxes for required year in one go, use an online cra approve software like GenuTax etc. and do them one by one. I havn

 

[spyfy]

I disagree. You have to file taxes even if your income is zero. In your case you did paid internships, that will require T4 or whatever is equivalent.

Application won't be complete, if you don't submit taxes. In my opinion.

You can do all taxes for required year in one go, use an online cra approve software like GenuTax etc. and do them one by one. I havn

This is not correct. As an employee you only have to file taxes if you owe money to the CRA. Since the OP was a student during the internship, his income was most likely well below his yearly tuition amount. Most likely, in fact, he/she had taxes deducted from their income at the source. Only the T4 would tell. That would in fact mean they overpaid taxes. But that is no crime, just unfortunate. As someone stated above one should always file taxes because usually you get money back. But there is no obligation to file taxes if you didn't owe any.

 

[devilhimselff]

It is not an obligation, but a requirement for applying for citizenship, as per cic guide. Hypothetical assessment is not going to help, unless taxes are filed by the OP. He (or us) cannot predict anything. How will citizenship officer know about his status of tax vs income? that's not their job.

Best to file taxes, and then proceed.

As per cic website,

What are the other requirements for citizenship?

You must:

• have met any applicable requirement under the Income Tax Act to file income taxes for four (4) taxation years that are fully or partially within the six (6) years immediately before you apply;

 

[spyfy]

It is not an obligation, but a requirement for applying for citizenship, as per cic guide. Hypothetical assessment is not going to help, unless taxes are filed by the OP. He (or us) cannot predict anything. How will citizenship officer know about his status of tax vs income? that's not their job.

Best to file taxes, and then proceed.

As per cic website,

What are the other requirements for citizenship?

You must:

• have met any applicable requirement under the Income Tax Act to file income taxes for four (4) taxation years that are fully or partially within the six (6) years immediately before you apply;

You are welcome to check out the other threads on this topic where many other forum seniors have confirmed that the following is the right interpretation:

The rules say "you must have met any applicable requirement under the Income Tax Act to file income taxes for four taxation years..."
It does not say "you must have filed income taxes for four taxation years..."

To spell it out more clearly: For those four years, IF you had to file according to the Income Tax Act, THEN you had to file. If you didn't have to file there was no "applicable requirement". Simple as that.

Obviously, no one, not even citizenship applicants, are required to file if they weren't required to file. That goes without saying.

This is the exact reason why the citizenship form has two columns for each tax year: The first asks "Required to file?" and the second asks "Have you filed?". Only if you were required to file AND didn't file do you have a problem.

It is, indeed, not the job of IRCC to assess the applicants income. They simply ask the CRA if everything is in order. And if the CRA has income under the SIN of the applicant they will have a look to see if it is plausible that they didn't need to file a return and that's it.

So again, it is simply wrong that you must have filed four tax returns to be eligible for citizenship. You only had to file them if you were required to do so.

 

[mosaab]

@spyfy
Do i need to send any docs as a proof for tax filling or they will check it with CRA ?

 

[spyfy]

@spyfy
Do i need to send any docs as a proof for tax filling or they will check it with CRA ?

They will check with the CRA. You simply provide your SIN on the citizenship application.

 

[devilhimselff]

You are welcome to check out the other threads on this topic where many other forum seniors have confirmed that the following is the right interpretation:

The rules say "you must have met any applicable requirement under the Income Tax Act to file income taxes for four taxation years..."
It does not say "you must have filed income taxes for four taxation years..."

To spell it out more clearly: For those four years, IF you had to file according to the Income Tax Act, THEN you had to file. If you didn't have to file there was no "applicable requirement". Simple as that.

Obviously, no one, not even citizenship applicants, are required to file if they weren't required to file. That goes without saying.

This is the exact reason why the citizenship form has two columns for each tax year: The first asks "Required to file?" and the second asks "Have you filed?". Only if you were required to file AND didn't file do you have a problem.

It is, indeed, not the job of IRCC to assess the applicants income. They simply ask the CRA if everything is in order. And if the CRA has income under the SIN of the applicant they will have a look to see if it is plausible that they didn't need to file a return and that's it.

So again, it is simply wrong that you must have filed four tax returns to be eligible for citizenship. You only had to file them if you were required to do so.

Makes sense. But wouldn't it delay the process? Off course CIC will ask CRA for details, which will take time with back and forth (may be). You have to declare your global income, property etc etc. what IF there is some concern or cra needs to inquire further regarding the income tax? then what happens to your application? Delays or RQ? I dunno sounds way to complicated to me. You may be able to, like you mentioned, but, the question is do you want to?

I will simply get the taxes done and then send the application, to keep things simple, but that's just me ...

This is also mentioned on cic website:
The filing of taxes is an important obligation of permanent residents and citizens, and this requirement encourages permanent residents to become aware of and comply with their tax obligations.

Roles of CIC and the CRA
CIC is responsible only for assessing whether the applicant met the income tax filing requirement of the Citizenship Act. Citizenship officers are not responsible for interpreting the Income Tax Act to determine tax compliance. Once the relevant section of the MOU is in place, CIC will be able to advise the CRA of potential issues with tax filing history, and the CRA has the authority to review and take action under its mandate to administer and enforce the Income Tax Act.