How soon can your sponsor claim your taxes if you are an inland applicant?

[Black-Berry]

Okay this has probably been brought up before . But i am too lazy right now to look for it. so pardon me if im duplicating anything.We moved here from Bermuda last year in Nov/. Hubby lived outside canada for 14 years prior. He is a Canadian Citizen naturally. He hadnt claimed anything in those 14+ years. Well now he wants to claim.. Can he put me as a dependant yet?. or should i wait for my PR?. We ave been married for 8 years .
Its probably pretty straight forward but i just wanna know how soon he can put me as a dependant.
thanks!

 

[toby]

You are living together in Canada. If hubby is now a Canadian taxpayer, he can claim you as a dependent as long as this is fact. I don't recall ever reading in CRA literature that the immmigration status of a dependant affects tax status.

If this is wrong, CRA will reassess the tax return and deny any financial benefit resulting from claiming you as a dependant. No harm done. . To avoid any appearannce of deceit, explain this in a cover letter.

.

 

[justina]

I lived abroad for about 5 years and declared myself a non-resident of Canada, so did not have to pay Canadian taxes. Now that I am back in Canada, and have gotten married, I claimed my out-of-status husband as a dependent with no problems. You are married, shouldn't be a problem. I even called the government office and asked a million questions.

The only thing is they won't give me GST rebate as I don't have proof of his lack of income! I tried for a year to call the GST office after I returned to Canada, and gave up. Now I have tried again a few times, but I don't have time to keep calling and never getting through.

(I couldn't get the rebate my first year back as a resident, as they wanted to know my foreign income yet the phone lines were always busy so I couldn't tell them. And as a non-resident, I really don't see how my foreign income would have been relevant? I came back to Canada, worked a few months, so figured that was all that the tax office should concern themselves with!)

 

[angelbrat]

I lived abroad for about 5 years and declared myself a non-resident of Canada, so did not have to pay Canadian taxes. Now that I am back in Canada, and have gotten married, I claimed my out-of-status husband as a dependent with no problems. You are married, shouldn't be a problem. I even called the government office and asked a million questions.

The only thing is they won't give me GST rebate as I don't have proof of his lack of income! I tried for a year to call the GST office after I returned to Canada, and gave up. Now I have tried again a few times, but I don't have time to keep calling and never getting through.

(I couldn't get the rebate my first year back as a resident, as they wanted to know my foreign income yet the phone lines were always busy so I couldn't tell them. And as a non-resident, I really don't see how my foreign income would have been relevant? I came back to Canada, worked a few months, so figured that was all that the tax office should concern themselves with!)

As I was working in the UK for part of 2007 and then started work in Canada November 2007, Revenue Canada also wanted to know my world wide income for 2007. I had no proof, just sent them a letter with my approximate earnings in Canadian dollars. They seemed to have excepted this.

I have never had any problems anyway from them in the last 2 1/2 years.

As for the OP question, yes, you can claim as a spousal dependent once your husband starts paying Canadian taxes. Canada is only concerned that you are not earning and that you are married or in a common law relationship according to Canadian law, not your immigration status. He can claim the rebate on his 2010 tax return.

 

[toby]

As for the OP question, yes, you can claim as a spousal dependent once your husband starts paying Canadian taxes. Canada is only concerned that you are not earning and that you are married or in a common law relationship according to Canadian law, not your immigration status. He can claim the rebate on his 2010 tax return.

Is it even necessary that the husband be in Canada and earn income, Angelbrat? Are you sure of this point?

It strikes me that (but I don't know with certainty) that if they are married, she lives in Canada while he lives abroad waiting for a PR, that he is a dependant of hers, and she can claim him on her tax return.

On the other point, where a new Canadian taxpayer is in Canada only part of the first tax year, I believe that CRA wants to know how long he/she was in Canada that year, and what percentage of total income was foreign income, in order to reduce the GST rebate (if applicable) and federal tax credits available to the taxpayer. Yes, mentioning this in a cover letter is usually sufficient.

 

[angelbrat]

Is it even necessary that the husband be in Canada and earn income, Angelbrat? Are you sure of this point?

It strikes me that (but I don't know with certainty) that if they are married, she lives in Canada while he lives abroad waiting for a PR, that he is a dependant of hers, and she can claim him on her tax return.

On the other point, where a new Canadian taxpayer is in Canada only part of the first tax year, I believe that CRA wants to know how long he/she was in Canada that year, and what percentage of total income was foreign income, in order to reduce the GST rebate (if applicable) and federal tax credits available to the taxpayer. Yes, mentioning this in a cover letter is usually sufficient.

I think it is the husband that is a Canadian citizen, working in Canada and the OP is the dependent whom is awaiting her PR.

Both are living in Canada, so whilst she is the wife of a Canadian tax payer and she is not working, her husband is entitled to claim her as a dependent.

 

[Black-Berry]

I think it is the husband that is a Canadian citizen, working in Canada and the OP is the dependent whom is awaiting her PR.

Both are living in Canada, so whilst she is the wife of a Canadian tax payer and she is not working, her husband is entitled to claim her as a dependent.

Yes correct.. we BOTH live in Canada. I am applying inland. he is the canadian citizen sponsoring me (his wife).. sorry abt that confusion. When you say paying the gvt taxes does it mean day-to-day living when we r in canada?. ie.. utilities..rent...car...house etc?. If so yes we have been paying the above since we arrived.... He is also self employed and i am unemployed for rather obvious reasons!..
I thought that haveing moved back to Canada, he needed to be here for at least a year before claiming?.

 

[iarblue]

If you are both in Canada and you are unemployed he must claim you on his income taxes at the end of the year,when he does his taxes.He claims you as his wife but as a dependant with no income.
Once you get your PR and start working then you claim taxes together at the end of the year.Your boss will give you a T4 you and your husband take your T4's to an accountant and submitt your income tax froms.
You dont claim taxes on day to day items such as food,rent,hydro,or anything else just income.This will happen around March April every year but as for now you do not need to worry about this.

 

[toby]

Iarblue:

I think there is an attractive alternative to using an accountant for a simple tax return. An accountant will charge about $250 per return, and a very popular tax preparer (H&R XXXX) has been reported to make errors.

The tax programs make it easy to prepare one's own tax return, and for about $65 you can prepare up to 8 returns. I like Quicktax because it looks just like the CRA forms, but does all the arithmetic and opens up all the schedules automatically.

 

[prof456]

Iarblue:

I think there is an attractive alternative to using an accountant for a simple tax return. An accountant will charge about $250 per return, and a very popular tax preparer (H&R XXXX) has been reported to make errors.

The tax programs make it easy to prepare one's own tax return, and for about $65 you can prepare up to 8 returns. I like Quicktax because it looks just like the CRA forms, but does all the arithmetic and opens up all the schedules automatically.

Studiotax is free and simple to use. You can prepare up to 20 returns.