Married status, Income Tax and benefits/credits

[Belinasha]

I just wanted to start a thread concerning Income Tax, changing to married status and benefits/credits. If you are a Canadian in receipt of any credits (CCTB, HST/GST credits and any other credits) they will be stopped when you file your income tax. My credits were stopped for the 2010 income tax year even though we were married in 2011. There are reasons behind this but it's too tedious to explain here. If you find you're in this situation do the following:

Mail your supporting documents to the respective Tax Centre. Faxes get lost and shuffled and don't get processed in a timely manner. Send the following to make sure there are no delays.

A change of status form that can be found on the Revenue Canada site.
A letter stating you want to change your married name (if female) and your information (SIN, DOB ect). In this letter write in all your spouses information (DOB ect) and explain that he/she does not have a SIN because they are from (wherever). Make sure you include in plain sight, their worldly income for the current and previous year converted into Canadian dollars. Include the date they entered Canada in bold letters that make it very clear for them to see.

Along with this letter, attach a copy of spouses visitor's record, a copy of your marriage certificate, a copy of spouses passport photo page and a copy of spouses birth certificate. Make sure that both spouses sign and date the letter as well.

I have been having headaches with Revenue Canada for the last month and even after sending all supporting documents TWICE, they are still requesting we send them my husband's SIN number /facepalm. I have contacted my MP and I am sending EVERYTHING in again for a third time. Hopefully, it's the charm.

 

[parker24]

I'm having issues as well.

They say I owe them money because I got married. In the letter they asked for either my husbands SIN or his landing date... Well he has neither! So I called, they told me to write a letter stating that he's American and that he has neither of these informations, so it's pointless to ask for it (Okay so they didn't say those exact words ) But anyway, just thought I'd share that in case anyone else has gotten a similar letter.

I've been getting issues with my disability payment too since I had to explain several times that he's not Canadian yet. *sigh* Government, one way track I tell ya!

 

[mirjahan]

I just wanted to start a thread concerning Income Tax, changing to married status and benefits/credits. If you are a Canadian in receipt of any credits (CCTB, HST/GST credits and any other credits) they will be stopped when you file your income tax. My credits were stopped for the 2010 income tax year even though we were married in 2011. There are reasons behind this but it's too tedious to explain here. If you find you're in this situation do the following:

Mail your supporting documents to the respective Tax Centre. Faxes get lost and shuffled and don't get processed in a timely manner. Send the following to make sure there are no delays.

A change of status form that can be found on the Revenue Canada site.
A letter stating you want to change your married name (if female) and your information (SIN, DOB ect). In this letter write in all your spouses information (DOB ect) and explain that he/she does not have a SIN because they are from (wherever). Make sure you include in plain sight, their worldly income for the current and previous year converted into Canadian dollars. Include the date they entered Canada in bold letters that make it very clear for them to see.

Along with this letter, attach a copy of spouses visitor's record, a copy of your marriage certificate, a copy of spouses passport photo page and a copy of spouses birth certificate. Make sure that both spouses sign and date the letter as well.

I have been having headaches with Revenue Canada for the last month and even after sending all supporting documents TWICE, they are still requesting we send them my husband's SIN number /facepalm. I have contacted my MP and I am sending EVERYTHING in again for a third time. Hopefully, it's the charm.

Until your husband is physically in Canada or your husband got SIN until then you are not receive any GST, or any Federal or Provincial benefit. And it will not change anything .

 

[enna00]

you are able to receive the credits, such as HST because these credits do not count as government assistance unless you make over a certain amount of funds

 

[Belinasha]

"Until your husband is physically in Canada or your husband got SIN until then you are not receive any GST, or any Federal or Provincial benefit. And it will not change anything ."

Credits and benefits are payable even if the spouse is in another country or in Canada. The amounts paid get reassessed according to both incomes since we're now filing as married. Once they actually read what is submitted to them, they will be able to recalcuate and then the credits resume to be paid out.

 

[Mark5]

I just wanted to start a thread concerning Income Tax, changing to married status and benefits/credits. If you are a Canadian in receipt of any credits (CCTB, HST/GST credits and any other credits) they will be stopped when you file your income tax. My credits were stopped for the 2010 income tax year even though we were married in 2011. There are reasons behind this but it's too tedious to explain here. If you find you're in this situation do the following:

Mail your supporting documents to the respective Tax Centre. Faxes get lost and shuffled and don't get processed in a timely manner. Send the following to make sure there are no delays.

A change of status form that can be found on the Revenue Canada site.
A letter stating you want to change your married name (if female) and your information (SIN, DOB ect). In this letter write in all your spouses information (DOB ect) and explain that he/she does not have a SIN because they are from (wherever). Make sure you include in plain sight, their worldly income for the current and previous year converted into Canadian dollars. Include the date they entered Canada in bold letters that make it very clear for them to see.

Along with this letter, attach a copy of spouses visitor's record, a copy of your marriage certificate, a copy of spouses passport photo page and a copy of spouses birth certificate. Make sure that both spouses sign and date the letter as well.

I have been having headaches with Revenue Canada for the last month and even after sending all supporting documents TWICE, they are still requesting we send them my husband's SIN number /facepalm. I have contacted my MP and I am sending EVERYTHING in again for a third time. Hopefully, it's the charm.

We are also having same issue with Revenue Canada after filling income tax for 2011, but got a letter that we owe them. Im not sure if this makes any sense bcos back in 2010 when we got married, we did call there office to inform them of the change in marital status yet the change was never effected...Now we did send them all the paper work they are requesting about my spouse but yet to hear from them why. We
will be happy to have this issue resolved...
If anyone with same issue have any advice or experience on this topic pls share and let us know if they will release the credit they hold back bcos this is so not making any sense....

 

[Mark5]

you are able to receive the credits, such as HST because these credits do not count as government assistance unless you make over a certain amount of funds

This response is not applicable to the above topic.

 

[Mark5]

Until your husband is physically in Canada or your husband got SIN until then you are not receive any GST, or any Federal or Provincial benefit. And it will not change anything .

This response is not applicable to the above topic. Read and understand the above topic Pls.

 

[parker24]

"Until your husband is physically in Canada or your husband got SIN until then you are not receive any GST, or any Federal or Provincial benefit. And it will not change anything ."

Credits and benefits are payable even if the spouse is in another country or in Canada. The amounts paid get reassessed according to both incomes since we're now filing as married. Once they actually read what is submitted to them, they will be able to recalcuate and then the credits resume to be paid out.

That's what I don't understand. They told me since my husband is American, I just need to write them a letter. I said "Are you sure?" She got REALLY snippy and was like "I know what I'm doing ma'am. Okie Dokie. So I sent the letter... We'll see if they send me a message back or something. Hm.

 

[Mark5]

That's what I don't understand. They told me since my husband is American, I just need to write them a letter. I said "Are you sure?" She got REALLY snippy and was like "I know what I'm doing ma'am. Okie Dokie. So I sent the letter... We'll see if they send me a message back or something. Hm.

We also sent the a letter and all the information they requested but those mean that they will release the credit? Those is really making me angry and worried.

 

[parker24]

This is the letter of which I sent them (And only this)


Canada Revenue Agency
St. John’s, NL
A1B3Z1

Dear Sir/Madam;

My name is ******* Parker. I received a letter from CRA regarding a possible overpayment due to my marital status. I was married on September 24th, 2011. However, my husband has visitor status in Canada. He is American. He has not landed in Canada as of yet. So I cannot provide a social insurance number and you did not make a mistake in the overpayment of GST/HST credit payment.

Once my husband has landed in Canada and has obtained a social insurance number, this information of him being my husband will be sent to CRA and the government accordingly.

Thank you for your time,



******* Parker
Educational Assistant, CYW
Place of Employment

 

[Belinasha]

Hey Parker24, I thought you were in Ontario? I know we in Ottawa have to send all information to the Shawinigan Tax Centre and I thought that was the same for all of Ontario..who knows. My first letter looked very similar to yours and I sent all the information that they required from the letter they sent to us. I sent more information than necessary and for some reason, they didn't get everything they needed from it? I sent a second letter with the same information, same copies of everything and still, they could not gather that he's American. Even including his IRS returns seemed to not get the message across to them. My 3rd letter said everything the EXACT same as the 1st and 2nd letter and I have no clue as to how anybody looking at everything I submitted could still ask for a SIN number. My 2nd letter was sent by fax though and it might have gotten lost in the shuffle, even though my roommate sent it by fax from DFAIT in Ottawa. I got my first letter on March 29, 2012 claiming I owed a ton of money for all my credits/benefits and it's been almost 2 months of this crap. Hopefully my MP can get to the bottom of this and soon! I hate logging into My Account on Revenue Canada and it says I owe $1400.00 when in reality, they are the ones owing money. I'm on OSAP and they account for the fact that I am receiving these payments into their calculations for how much OSAP I get. The really crappy thing is, when they finally recalculate these credits/benefits, they don't get issued until the next payment dates for that specific credit/benefit. If they process the information by the end of May, I'll get the owing CCTB in June and the GST/HST whenever that comes out...July? Revenue Canada sucks and there's no reason for this to take 2 months. The only upside of this is that by the time they figure out my husband is American, I'll end up getting a nice sum back.

 

[parker24]

Hey Parker24, I thought you were in Ontario? I know we in Ottawa have to send all information to the Shawinigan Tax Centre and I thought that was the same for all of Ontario..who knows. My first letter looked very similar to yours and I sent all the information that they required from the letter they sent to us. I sent more information than necessary and for some reason, they didn't get everything they needed from it? I sent a second letter with the same information, same copies of everything and still, they could not gather that he's American. Even including his IRS returns seemed to not get the message across to them. My 3rd letter said everything the EXACT same as the 1st and 2nd letter and I have no clue as to how anybody looking at everything I submitted could still ask for a SIN number. My 2nd letter was sent by fax though and it might have gotten lost in the shuffle, even though my roommate sent it by fax from DFAIT in Ottawa. I got my first letter on March 29, 2012 claiming I owed a ton of money for all my credits/benefits and it's been almost 2 months of this crap. Hopefully my MP can get to the bottom of this and soon! I hate logging into My Account on Revenue Canada and it says I owe $1400.00 when in reality, they are the ones owing money. I'm on OSAP and they account for the fact that I am receiving these payments into their calculations for how much OSAP I get. The really crappy thing is, when they finally recalculate these credits/benefits, they don't get issued until the next payment dates for that specific credit/benefit. If they process the information by the end of May, I'll get the owing CCTB in June and the GST/HST whenever that comes out...July? Revenue Canada sucks and there's no reason for this to take 2 months. The only upside of this is that by the time they figure out my husband is American, I'll end up getting a nice sum back.

Yes I'm in Ontario. I just looked at the letter they sent me and it said St. John's so I sent it there. Hopefully that was the right place haha. I personally have not had much issues with GST/HST YET! My sister on the other hand is going though so much stuff with them and the child tax credit I was also having some issues with my ODSP (Disablity) as they seemed to think, well since he's here in our house, he must have moved. Um no. He's visiting. Sigh. Like I said Government has one track mind, and it had to do with money!

I'll let you know if I hear anything back from them. I sent it not this past Friday, but the Friday before. We'll see!! How long did it take for them to get your letters? I can't believe they can't seem to realize Oh, he's not Canadian! ... numbnut CRA lol

 

[Belinasha]

I sent letters on April 10th and April 17th. With nothing happening on My Account on CRA website, I called at the end of April. They said that they have to process the information by the end of the month for it to be paid by the 20th of the next month. I called on May 10th and they said that they sent me a letter dated May 8 asking for receipt of my husband's SIN number. I sent the 1st letter by mail so they would have probably gotten it by the 16th at the latest and the 2nd one I sent by fax on the 17th which I think just got lost at the fax machine. I just sent my 3rd on the 10th and contacted my MP the same day. If they got it on or around the 16th of April, this will be the 5th week of them not being able to read that my husband isn't American. Ugh, thanks for letting me rant!

 

[Mrslwsn]

I did not get any of my benefits stopped. You have to time these things in regards to the benefits/credits tax year. While my husband was a non resident, I informed rev can by fax letter, which I also mailed a copy as a back up. Basically I had to declare his world income, I stated he was a non resident, that he has never entered Canada, and what date we were married. When I officially changed my name, I called them and they changed it, but I also sent in my new passport under my married name as proof. I still got my full gst, ost, and cctb. The only thing that got delayed was the final osttb credit, which was a one time transition benefit. That one I was supposed to get in June 2011, but ended up getting it Dec 2011. Otherwise nothing changed. Now he is here. I called them and they said that all I have to do is write a letter with a copy of his copr, and state that he is now a resident but not working and they will add him to my gst and ost etc. They checked to make sure they had his 2011 world income on file which they did because I reported it when I did my taxes this year.