Filed single tax but in common law

[Lastllama]

Hello,

I'm in a common law relationship for 2 years now, we filled together at one point but my partner los her job in 2023 and had no income and an expired sin number during 2024.

The tax professional we used recommend us not to file her taxes due to her not being a resident and not having any Canadian income, but because I did I had to file and did it as single.

Now we have an ITA and was wondering if this could be an issue, we have leases, utilities insurance and furniture bought together, also the common law form is notarized and we have photos and vacations together, can this be an issue ?

We are currently in her country and traveling to mine next, where we will sign a civil union, should we wait until we do and file our invitation with that paper also ?

 

[canuck78]

Hello,

I'm in a common law relationship for 2 years now, we filled together at one point but my partner los her job in 2023 and had no income and an expired sin number during 2024.

The tax professional we used recommend us not to file her taxes due to her not being a resident and not having any Canadian income, but because I did I had to file and did it as single.

Now we have an ITA and was wondering if this could be an issue, we have leases, utilities insurance and furniture bought together, also the common law form is notarized and we have photos and vacations together, can this be an issue ?

We are currently in her country and traveling to mine next, where we will sign a civil union, should we wait until we do and file our invitation with that paper also ?

You need to refile your taxes as common law since this affects things like your tax benefits. Your common law partner also has to file their taxes for the years they were legally able to work in Canada if they were living in Canada even if their SIN expired. This is vey basic stuff do not use this consultant ever again.

 

[Lastllama]

You need to refile your taxes as common law since this affects things like your tax benefits. Your common law partner also has to file their taxes for the years they were legally able to work in Canada if they were living in Canada even if their SIN expired. This is vey basic stuff do not use this consultant ever again.

Yes he is banned from our list.

To follow up, she did file her taxes all the time she was able to work, and we did file common law when she had work and was on a work permit.

The only time we didn't is the year after she lost her job (2023) during 2024, she had no job, no work permit only a visitor record and no income in Canada ( not salary, severance or ei) so 2025 I filled my taxes on my own and a second ( better) tax professional told me I lost in benefits because I filed alone, as she had no income.

So regarding cra we find ourselves confident that we do not owe money, so at least tax wise we feel ok, it's regarding proving our common law to the express entry that we may feel this could be an issue.

Thank you for responding!

 

[canuck78]

Yes he is banned from our list.

To follow up, she did file her taxes all the time she was able to work, and we did file common law when she had work and was on a work permit.

The only time we didn't is the year after she lost her job (2023) during 2024, she had no job, no work permit only a visitor record and no income in Canada ( not salary, severance or ei) so 2025 I filled my taxes on my own and a second ( better) tax professional told me I lost in benefits because I filed alone, as she had no income.

So regarding cra we find ourselves confident that we do not owe money, so at least tax wise we feel ok, it's regarding proving our common law to the express entry that we may feel this could be an issue.

Thank you for responding!

You remained common law even if she was on a visitor record so you need to refile as common law. You wouldn’t stop being married if she was on a visitor record for example. Your marital status doesn’t change based on your tax residency status. As long as her WP expired in 2023 she only had to file taxes for tax year 2023 and would not be a tax resident for 2024.