Tax Question

[Fencesitter]

Hi all,

Okay, so according the CRA, I have been a non-resident for tax purposes since 2001. Back in 2004, my dad used my name for some money earned through his consulting company (I guess so he could avoid paying the taxes?). The amount was about CAD26,000. Taxes were deducted, but I never filed a return.

For the Option C Printout, I have explained that I have been a non-resident for tax purposes since 2001. So, I'm wondering if this will be a problem. i.e. misrepresentation. I will provide my 2010 tax assessment from the Chinese authorities, because the 2011 assessment will not be released until after I have submitted my application. What should I do???? I don't want to get caught up in something that will cause CIC to reject my sponsorship application, but when I spoke to CRA last night, the guy I spoke to said that CIC doesn't deal with CRA for immigration purposes. Is that accurate?

My dad also opened a joint bank account with my name, and again, he didn't tell me about it. So, as I understand it, to be a non-resident for tax purposes, all ties must be cut. Is this another potential issue???

I'm disappointed that my dad would do these things without talking to me first...but there is nothing I can do about it now, aside from making sure I fill out the forms correctly so that I do not get rejected on the grounds of misrepresentation.

Any help or knowledge on the above would be most appreciated!

Thanks,
FS

 

[Fencesitter]

Anyone?

 

[mroliveland]

If you feel that the answer you put on the application can be misunderstood by the reviewer due to any reason, supplement your application with an addendum explaining your answer in details. This is much better than just leaving the answer as it is. Even though you have already submitted the original application, send now an addendum separately and put your identifiers on it. Print out the page of the application where the answer needed to be explains and attach it to the addendum..

 

[Fencesitter]

Thanks, but I haven't sent my application yet.

What I am concerned about is the 2004 Canadian based earnings. Like I said, I haven't filed a return yet...and I haven't lived in Canada since 2001...which is what I was told by CRA.

Will CIC go back further than the most recent tax year? I am submitting my Chinese returns instead of the Option C, but for some reason I have this idea that the 2004 thing will come back to bite me.

In my explanation as to why I am not submitting the Option C, I have changed my original so that I do not mention anything about being a non-resident for tax purposes since 2001. Instead, I have simply said I have not resided in Canada for a number of years, and therefore haven't filed returns.

Am I going to be okay??

Thanks,
FS

 

[computergeek]

CIC will not go to CRA for anything - CRA will not release information to any other governmental agency absent your explicit permission or a court order. I cannot imagine they are going to research back more than 7 years to find a return that was filed without your knowledge or permission, but if they do, you can certainly explain to them that you found out about it after the fact but you did not see that it was germane since it was done without your knowledge or permission.

So the guy from CRA was absolutely correct.

I learned about that because here in BC in order to qualify for Fair Pharmacare you have to sign a document granting CRA the authority to release your income information to them (since the coverage level is income based.) I never bothered to return the form (and as a result am not eligible for Fair Pharmacare.)

 

[Fencesitter]

That's a relief.

So I will amend my original explanation and simply say "I have not lived in Canada for a number of years, and therefore, have not filed tax returns in Canada." This is absolutely true.

Cheers,

FS