Married outside the country but still 'single' on papers in Canada

[Felipe]

I am completing the application to sponsor my wife, we got married in Honduras almost 3 years ago.
But on all my dealings with the government up to now(tax returns and such) I was putting myself as 'single', thinking that my situation here was still single until my wife got here.

But now if I mention on the sponsorship form that I am married for 3 years, is the fact that I still appear as single with other government agencies be a problem?

 

[DanSlh]

In MY case it wasn't a problem.
My wife, who sponsored me, never changed her marital status until last week.
We applied, approved and I landed last month with no issues.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I am completing the application to sponsor my wife, we got married in Honduras almost 3 years ago.
But on all my dealings with the government up to now(tax returns and such) I was putting myself as 'single', thinking that my situation here was still single until my wife got here.

But now if I mention on the sponsorship form that I am married for 3 years, is the fact that I still appear as single with other government agencies be a problem?

CIC can't access your information held by other government agencies.

That said, you will need to update your marital status with CRA, which includes telling them when you got married. They will request your wife's income during the past 3 years and review your tax returns. This usually results in people owing money due to things like GST credit that depend on family income. I suggest you do this ASAP.

 

[Felipe]

But my wife is still in Honduras and we have never lived together in Canada.
Are you saying that even in that case the CRA we review my tax returns to take into account my wife's revenue in Honduras?

 

[Aquakitty]

But my wife is still in Honduras and we have never lived together in Canada.
Are you saying that even in that case the CRA we review my tax returns to take into account my wife's revenue in Honduras?

If you make little enough money to receive a GST cheque, but your wife's added income would put you over the cutoff, then you might owe the GST back.

I also did not file as married since my husband hadn't landed but in our case it'll make little difference since he wasn't working.

 

[tofuboi]

How does one file as married when your partner doesn't even have a SIN number?

 

[Felipe]

If you make little enough money to receive a GST cheque, but your wife's added income would put you over the cutoff, then you might owe the GST back.

I also did not file as married since my husband hadn't landed but in our case it'll make little difference since he wasn't working.

But that would imply her having to submit proof of her income, so the CRA verifying a foreign citizen in a foreign country

 

[canuck_in_uk]

But that would imply her having to submit proof of her income, so the CRA verifying a foreign citizen in a foreign country

You are required to state your spouse's income on your tax return. Certain credits, such as GST, are based on overall family income.

 

[Gemmie]

There is a world income to include your spouses income and you use the average exchange rate
for that that foreign exchange to canadian dollars.

You do have to tell CRA within a short period if you are married and receiving any tax benefits such as
Child Tax, Gst, etc........ it affects the amount you receive.

Here is a link to where you can get the forms to report the changes.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/rc65/README.html

NOTE: About the term separation *on the CRA page* It is not geographical, it is only applicable to marriage breakdown, so even if you can not live with your spouse, you are not considered separated.

 

[Rob_TO]

How does one file as married when your partner doesn't even have a SIN number?

The partner that has no SIN is not filing a tax return, they are only being included as a spouse on the Canadian's tax return. So the Canadian can simply state on the return their spouse is a non-citizen, and has no SIN. However CRA will still want to know their "world" income in order to calculate the family income of the Canadian.

But that would imply her having to submit proof of her income, so the CRA verifying a foreign citizen in a foreign country

CRA will ask you what your spouse's income earned in their home country is. In most cases they simply take you at your word that the amount you give them is accurate. However if you are ever audited in the future, only then you may need to show proof of the world income stated (such as with that country's tax returns).

 

[Aquakitty]

There is a world income to include your spouses income and you use the average exchange rate
for that that foreign exchange to canadian dollars.

You do have to tell CRA within a short period if you are married and receiving any tax benefits such as
Child Tax, Gst, etc........ it affects the amount you receive.

Here is a link to where you can get the forms to report the changes.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/rc65/README.html

NOTE: About the term separation *on the CRA page* It is not geographical, it is only applicable to marriage breakdown, so even if you can not live with your spouse, you are not considered separated.

Thanks for the link, I've been putting off doing that. I just did it online, if you already have a CRA account it takes like 2 minutes to do.