What is my first year of tax if I landed on December 30 as a Foreign student ?

[calvin07]

Hello Everyone,

I have been filing taxes for the past 3 years but did not file taxes for the year I landed. I came to Canada as a Foreign student on 30th December 2016 and remember only applying for a Bank account and Ontario Photo card in 2017 January. Even my UHIP (University Health Insurance Plan) with sunlife was issued on 1/1/2017. I was using an international debit card for some purchases in the mean time.

So my question is Do I become a newcomer resident for tax purposes for the year 2016 or 2017 ?

Im really confused and any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hello Everyone,

I have been filing taxes for the past 3 years but did not file taxes for the year I landed. I came to Canada as a Foreign student on 30th December 2016 and remember only applying for a Bank account and Ontario Photo card in 2017 January. Even my UHIP (University Health Insurance Plan) with sunlife was issued on 1/1/2017. I was using an international debit card for some purchases in the mean time.

So my question is Do I become a newcomer resident for tax purposes for the year 2016 or 2017 ?

Im really confused and any help would be appreciated. Thanks

1. Assuming you didn't earn any money on the 30/31 Dec. 2016, then 2017 is your first taxation year.

 

[calvin07]

Hi



1. Assuming you didn't earn any money on the 30/31 Dec. 2016, then 2017 is your first taxation year.

Hi

It seems it also depends on having residential ties and after reading through Factual Residence , I didn't have any significant residential ties and from the list of secondary residential ties I guess I may satisfy just one of them i.e having enrolled in a course at my university , so its probably not enough ties.
The only thing that concerns me is that when filing tax for 2017 I would need to mention that i arrived in Canada on the 1st of Jan which is not correct

My current TFSA room caught my attention. Im 26 and haven't contributed yet but it shows 60k as the amount which is not correct because calculating from 2016 or even 2017 it should be around 40k. The 60k room is from 2013 (when i turned 18) so the CRA does not have the right data ( because I havent filed my first tax mentioning my arrival date ).

So I may either under report my taxes which gives the CRA wrong info about my arrival date and less TFSA room or over report my taxes which gives CRA the correct arrival date and more TFSA room. Im not much concerned about the TFSA room but I dont want any complications when I apply for citizenship later lol

 

[subodhp]

Hi

It seems it also depends on having residential ties and after reading through Factual Residence , I didn't have any significant residential ties and from the list of secondary residential ties I guess I may satisfy just one of them i.e having enrolled in a course at my university , so its probably not enough ties.
The only thing that concerns me is that when filing tax for 2017 I would need to mention that i arrived in Canada on the 1st of Jan which is not correct

My current TFSA room caught my attention. Im 26 and haven't contributed yet but it shows 60k as the amount which is not correct because calculating from 2016 or even 2017 it should be around 40k. The 60k room is from 2013 (when i turned 18) so the CRA does not have the right data ( because I havent filed my first tax mentioning my arrival date ).

So I may either under report my taxes which gives the CRA wrong info about my arrival date and less TFSA room or over report my taxes which gives CRA the correct arrival date and more TFSA room. Im not much concerned about the TFSA room but I dont want any complications when I apply for citizenship later lol

Reporting factual info on your return is usually a sound strategy