Wrong SIN, how to file taxes??

[janellejeff]

I became a PR last year in August 2011. I entered the country and became a university student in British Columbia. I obtained a scholarship of $1200 and held a part time job for 1 month, earning $1670.60.

However, the T4A form for my scholarship has incorrect addresses (it does not list my address in Ontario but instead my address in Wales, which is the address I used to apply to uni) and I did not know I had to file taxes - back home anyone who earns below a certain amount does not need to file - so never provided my university with my SIN.

The same goes for my employer, I only worked for about 3.5 weeks and then had to abruptly leave because of a family emergency (my dad died) back in Wales. I lost my job and my ex-employer did not entertain any of my calls/texts after. They did however mail me my T4 form and put my SIN as 000 000 000. A few months later upon returning to BC, the store had been shut down and a new one was being built in it's place so there's absolutely no chance of me contacting my ex employer to correct the SIN on my T4 form.

My uni can correct my address/SIN but I am a bit confused about what to do about my T4 form. I did not know I had to file taxes and only realised it about a week ago. I don't mind paying penalties for late charges etc, but I just want to know whether or not having 000 000 000 as my SIN number will affect things before I apply. What should I do?

ALSO, I am in Wales, and have transferred to a university in Ontario so will only be going back to Ontario, NOT BC. Is it possible to file late taxes for BC from Ontario?

Many thanks for help in advance!

 

[seton]

In Canada, you technically only need to file taxes if you owe the CRA money. You can file a late tax return without penalty if you had nothing owing. If you did owe taxes, you can even apply to have the penalties waived (which they often do for first offences and reasonable reasons). As such, don't worry about the timing.

Considering the amount of money you earned, you will likely have no tax owing if you do have to file. However you will want to file (if you are eligible), as there are tax credits available to you - like the GST/HST credit.

There are a couple of things that you need to determine. One of the key things about whether you file a return or not is whether you were considered a Canadian resident for the year. This is determined by the number of days you lived in Canada for 2011, and other factors. Have a read of http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html for some guidance.

If you were a non-resident, you may not have to file taxes in Canada.

The incorrect address on your T4A is not an issue - they used the address on file so it doesn't matter.

The zeros in your SIN are because your employer did not have your SIN when they hired you. This is actually their fault as they are supposed to have your SIN number within 3 days of hiring you. Anyway you can use that T4 as per normal for your employee income.

With regards to your BC/Ontario question, taxes in Canada are federally administered. As such, you file one return with your federal and provincial tax amounts. It doesn't matter which province you file from (except for the calculation of your provincial taxes based on where you lived for the tax year you are filing for).

 

[janellejeff]

In Canada, you technically only need to file taxes if you owe the CRA money. You can file a late tax return without penalty if you had nothing owing. If you did owe taxes, you can even apply to have the penalties waived (which they often do for first offences and reasonable reasons). As such, don't worry about the timing.

Considering the amount of money you earned, you will likely have no tax owing if you do have to file. However you will want to file (if you are eligible), as there are tax credits available to you - like the GST/HST credit.

There are a couple of things that you need to determine. One of the key things about whether you file a return or not is whether you were considered a Canadian resident for the year. This is determined by the number of days you lived in Canada for 2011, and other factors.

If you were a non-resident, you may not have to file taxes in Canada.

The incorrect address on your T4A is not an issue - they used the address on file so it doesn't matter.

The zeros in your SIN are because your employer did not have your SIN when they hired you. This is actually their fault as they are supposed to have your SIN number within 3 days of hiring you. Anyway you can use that T4 as per normal for your employee income.

With regards to your BC/Ontario question, taxes in Canada are federally administered. As such, you file one return with your federal and provincial tax amounts. It doesn't matter which province you file from (except for the calculation of your provincial taxes based on where you lived for the tax year you are filing for).

Thanks so much for this Seton, you are a God-send!

I am considered a resident because I spent abouuuut 6 months in Canada before taking a semester off to go back for my dad, and I was under the impression that I HAD to pay taxes because when I received my pay-checks in the mail, a substantial amount had been docked for federal taxes! Also, I read up on taxes and it kept on saying that 5% is taxed (in BC) on the first $30,000 or so. I guess that you have to earn a minimum amount to be taxed that's not mentioned somewhere? Now it's a huge relief to hear there's no penalty because I likely owe nothing and I'm not going to jail

Basically this is what I'm going to do: file tax returns upon arriving in Ontario this August. List my SIN on the tax return, not caring about the 000 000 000 SIN listed on my forms. Hope for the best (or even some money back!)? Did I get that right? In any case, thanks again for the very helpful reply - I hope this helps other young people like me who can't wrap their head around taxes!

 

[seton]

You get basic tax credits for federal and provincial taxes. In 2011, they were the following:

Federal: $10,527
BC: $11,088

Essentially this means that for your first $10,527 of income, you would not be paying any taxes. For your first $11,088 of income, you would only be paying federal taxes of 15% on $561 of that income (11,088-10,527). The income earned above those amounts are taxed at rates related to the income brackets.

With the numbers you gave, your employment income is below those amounts so your income was largely tax free (with the exception of CPP, EI, etc). Since you said your employer deducted taxes from your income, then you will actually be eligible for a refund of most of the taxes you paid, so you should really file your return. You will probably get a couple hundred bucks back You will also get quarterly payments of about $30-60 from GST/HST credits. Lots of reasons you should file your return.

Also, since you're a student, you probably got a T2202A form for the tuition you paid for 2011. You will want to file this too as these are education tax credits which you can use to reduce your taxes in future years (they can be rolled forward, or transferred to your parents if they're in Canada).