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chasinglight

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Apr 28, 2014
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Toronto, ON
Visa Office......
Port Of Spain
So my friend moved to Canada as a PR mid 2016. Filed her taxes in 2017 and got a refund of X amount and then got a letter saying they needed her worldwide income before moving to Canada to calculate her HST/GST benefit. She declared what it was and then this month gets a letter saying she needs to repay the refund she was given plus more money after they reassessed her taxes based on her worldwide income. I always assumed the money you made before coming to Canada was not taxable!

Did the CRA make a mistake?
 
Was this the form your friend submitted? Date that your friend became PR matters.
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/migration/cra-arc/E/pbg/gf/rc151/rc151-17e.pdf
Income earned before landing as PR doesn't matter in ITR unless from Canadian sources.

For the part of the tax year that you WERE NOT a resident of Canada
You have to report the following amounts:
  • income from employment in Canada or from a business carried on in Canada;
  • taxable capital gains from disposing of taxable Canadian property; and
  • taxable part of scholarships, bursaries, fellowships, and research grants you received from Canadian sources.
Tell your friend to call CRA, there must be a mistake on the dates inputted.
 
So my friend moved to Canada as a PR mid 2016. Filed her taxes in 2017 and got a refund of X amount and then got a letter saying they needed her worldwide income before moving to Canada to calculate her HST/GST benefit. She declared what it was and then this month gets a letter saying she needs to repay the refund she was given plus more money after they reassessed her taxes based on her worldwide income. I always assumed the money you made before coming to Canada was not taxable!

Did the CRA make a mistake?

She needs to contact CRA. Without looking at her tax return, no one can say what happened.
 
So my friend moved to Canada as a PR mid 2016. Filed her taxes in 2017 and got a refund of X amount and then got a letter saying they needed her worldwide income before moving to Canada to calculate her HST/GST benefit. She declared what it was and then this month gets a letter saying she needs to repay the refund she was given plus more money after they reassessed her taxes based on her worldwide income. I always assumed the money you made before coming to Canada was not taxable!

Did the CRA make a mistake?

Did you find out the answer? I have received a similar form.
 
Was she working when she arrived in Canada? She may have received a refund based on having no or very low income which actually wasn't the case after she reported her worldwide income.
 
Did you find out the answer? I have received a similar form.

Tax credits and benefits are based on previous income. CRA likely determined that your previous income was too high to be eligible for the credits/benefits and now require you to pay it back.
 
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So my friend moved to Canada as a PR mid 2016. Filed her taxes in 2017 and got a refund of X amount and then got a letter saying they needed her worldwide income before moving to Canada to calculate her HST/GST benefit. She declared what it was and then this month gets a letter saying she needs to repay the refund she was given plus more money after they reassessed her taxes based on her worldwide income. I always assumed the money you made before coming to Canada was not taxable!

Did the CRA make a mistake?

She likely received some benefits (HST, Trillium, etc.) that she was not entitled to based on her global income, and she is being asked to repay these (and not her tax refund which is very different). The money you make before coming to Canada is indeed not taxed at all.