Undeclared Common-law when me and my partner became PR independently

[unique_name_]

Hi Everyone,

TLDR;
Did not know that In canada living under one roof makes us common-law and have been doing CRA/CIC application as Single Status. Me and my Boyfriend have been living together since December 2021 and according to what I read now, we have entered common-law since Decmeber 2022. However, our IRCC applications are as below:
My application -> Became PR December 2023(FSW Inland & Marital Status unknowingly declared single)
My Boyfriend -> Became PR January 2023 (CEC Inland & Marital Status unknowingly declared single)

Long Version:

We were about to file the taxes, the accountant told that we need to file taxes as common-law as we are living under same address. However, we always filed our taxes single. Moreover, this also created a doubt that is explained below:

Me and my boyfriend started living together in December 2021. He applied for PR(CEC) in March 2022 and received the ITA in August and became PR in January 2023. He did this application by declaring his marital status as single. I also applied for PR separately in FSW Inland Stream and received the ITA in April 2023 and unknowingly about the common-law, I also declared my marital status as single and my PR got approved in December 2023.
We didn't know about that that in Canada common-law is triggered automatically after living for 12 continous months. However, we want to make everything right now. So, I was wondering if any of you guys could provide some guidance. We would really appreciate it. What we should do now?

 

[unique_name_]

@scylla @canuck78 @k.h.p. any help please

 

[armoured]

We didn't know about that that in Canada common-law is triggered automatically after living for 12 continous months. However, we want to make everything right now. So, I was wondering if any of you guys could provide some guidance. We would really appreciate it. What we should do now?

-You'll have to work out your taxes separately, leaving that issue aside.

-The most common 'consequence' of not declaring one's (common-law or married) spouse is that the other can never be sponsored.

-Obviously that's not an issue in your case, as you've both already become PRs. (I suppose in future if either of you lost your PR status the one couldn't sponsor the other).

-Hypothetically, IRCC could accuse one or the both of you of misrepresentation and the consequences could be worse. But I think the best anyone can say is that is quite unlikely. (The reason is that it's ... a situation where it would take a long time to play out and probably end up dismissed as a mistake, and an immaterial one, with no consequences in the end).

In other words, you got lucky. Probably. I don't know that there's any way to fix the error nor any upside in doing so at this point.

 

[unique_name_]

-You'll have to work out your taxes separately, leaving that issue aside.

-The most common 'consequence' of not declaring one's (common-law or married) spouse is that the other can never be sponsored.

-Obviously that's not an issue in your case, as you've both already become PRs. (I suppose in future if either of you lost your PR status the one couldn't sponsor the other).

-Hypothetically, IRCC could accuse one or the both of you of misrepresentation and the consequences could be worse. But I think the best anyone can say is that is quite unlikely. (The reason is that it's ... a situation where it would take a long time to play out and probably end up dismissed as a mistake, and an immaterial one, with no consequences in the end).

In other words, you got lucky. Probably. I don't know that there's any way to fix the error nor any upside in doing so at this point.

Thank you for taking your time to reply. What happens if we get married. Do we need to inform IRCC. And, suppose we get married and while citizenship application would IRCC look into it again? Both of us have same address on the files for last 2 years.

 

[armoured]

Thank you for taking your time to reply. What happens if we get married. Do we need to inform IRCC. And, suppose we get married and while citizenship application would IRCC look into it again? Both of us have same address on the files for last 2 years.

You don't need to inform them, no. It doesn't normally come up in PR renewal apart from indicating marital status.

As far as I'm aware that's true for the citizenship application as well. While you both would submit that doc with address history, I don't believe they are looking for people who got married to figure out exactly when (or indeed if) they became common law prior to that.

I'm not encouraging you to lie. If it comes up, I'd admit openly to this and not knowing or believing you were common law at the time.

But as far as I'm aware it doesn't come up and isn't specifically looked for.

But I'd encourage you to look at the files and forms yourself.

 

[canuck78]

Hi Everyone,

TLDR;
Did not know that In canada living under one roof makes us common-law and have been doing CRA/CIC application as Single Status. Me and my Boyfriend have been living together since December 2021 and according to what I read now, we have entered common-law since Decmeber 2022. However, our IRCC applications are as below:
My application -> Became PR December 2023(FSW Inland & Marital Status unknowingly declared single)
My Boyfriend -> Became PR January 2023 (CEC Inland & Marital Status unknowingly declared single)

Long Version:

We were about to file the taxes, the accountant told that we need to file taxes as common-law as we are living under same address. However, we always filed our taxes single. Moreover, this also created a doubt that is explained below:

Me and my boyfriend started living together in December 2021. He applied for PR(CEC) in March 2022 and received the ITA in August and became PR in January 2023. He did this application by declaring his marital status as single. I also applied for PR separately in FSW Inland Stream and received the ITA in April 2023 and unknowingly about the common-law, I also declared my marital status as single and my PR got approved in December 2023.
We didn't know about that that in Canada common-law is triggered automatically after living for 12 continous months. However, we want to make everything right now. So, I was wondering if any of you guys could provide some guidance. We would really appreciate it. What we should do now?

Contact CRA to inform them when you became common law. You can also each send IRCC a webform indicating that you became aware of common law status and did not realize that you were considered common law and not single as of December X 2022 and you’d like to apologize for the error. Don’t believe this step is necessary and luckily you both qualified for PR on your own but if you want to be extra cautious and clarify the error a simple short webform should be fine.

 

[autoscriptor]

File your 2023 taxes separately. If you are still living together but not legally married before the end of 2024, file your 2024 taxes as common-law partners. You need to contact neither IRCC nor CRA. Until now, there has been no paper trace of you being in a common-law relationship. You are good.

 

[canuck78]

File your 2023 taxes separately. If you are still living together but not legally married before the end of 2024, file your 2024 taxes as common-law partners. You need to contact neither IRCC nor CRA. Until now, there has been no paper trace of you being in a common-law relationship. You are good.

Same address for multiple years before declaring being common law could be used proof of common law so there is evidence. Also lying to CRA is never a good idea. Tax fraud in general is not a good idea. With minimal money and time involved it doesn’t make sense to risk having problems with CRA which could be significantly more time consuming and expensive.

 

[autoscriptor]

Same address for multiple years before declaring being common law could be used proof of common law so there is evidence. Also lying to CRA is never a good idea. Tax fraud in general is not a good idea. With minimal money and time involved it doesn’t make sense to risk having problems with CRA which could be significantly more time consuming and expensive.

Can you please explain more how this is a tax fraud? How one can benefit from filing a tax separate from their partner? Also, filling under the same address is not a proof of common law. Using the same logic, do you means thousands of roommates are common law partners?