Child Benefit Staying Outside Canada

[ashikn]

Hello,

We had our twins Dec 2016 in Toronto and after staying for 2 months, we returned to our home country in Feb 2017. After birth, I have applied for Child Benefit back in dec 2016 and after returning from Canada this Feb, CRA started sending Child Benefit, HST, OTB cheques to my canadain postal address (my cousin's home address). Pls note, I didn't do direct deposit while I was in Canada so CRA is sending these cheques since Mar 2017. Now I got the following questions:

1. As we (me, my wife, and kids) are not staying in Canada, so will it create any problem in future from CRA?
2. Though I have applied Child Benefit for my two twins, but from the beginning I am getting cheque of my one kid. So I directly contact with CRA regarding this issue?
3. If I call CRA from outside Canada, can they trace that? and will it be a problem?

If needed I am ready to payback the cheque amount to CRA anytime

Appreciate you advice.

 

[Tubsmagee]

Hello,

We had our twins Dec 2016 in Toronto and after staying for 2 months, we returned to our home country in Feb 2017. After birth, I have applied for Child Benefit back in dec 2016 and after returning from Canada this Feb, CRA started sending Child Benefit, HST, OTB cheques to my canadain postal address (my cousin's home address). Pls note, I didn't do direct deposit while I was in Canada so CRA is sending these cheques since Mar 2017. Now I got the following questions:

1. As we (me, my wife, and kids) are not staying in Canada, so will it create any problem in future from CRA?
2. Though I have applied Child Benefit for my two twins, but from the beginning I am getting cheque of my one kid. So I directly contact with CRA regarding this issue?
3. If I call CRA from outside Canada, can they trace that? and will it be a problem?

If needed I am ready to payback the cheque amount to CRA anytime

Appreciate you advice.

1-3. You should notify them that you aren't resident in Canada so they stop sending checks, and destroy (or refund) the checks received.

 

[Buletruck]

Agreed. You aren't entitled if you are not residing in Canada. CRA will want the money, plus interest and penalties possibly, back.

 

[ashikn]

Thanks for the response. What if I don't inform CRA and return Canada with full family sometime next year. Is there anyway, CRA will try to identify our physical presence?

 

[DollyM]

Thanks for the response. What if I don't inform CRA and return Canada with full family sometime next year. Is there anyway, CRA will try to identify our physical presence?

If you don't tell CRA then you are committing fraud. You are not entitled to child tax benefit because you are not in the country! You are stealing from Canadian taxpayers if you do not tell CRA and keep the cheques.

You MUST tell CRA that you are not in the country and return the cheques you received.

 

[Bs65]

Thanks for the response. What if I don't inform CRA and return Canada with full family sometime next year. Is there anyway, CRA will try to identify our physical presence?

So when you complete tax returns, one of the conditions I believe for continuing CCB, you also plan to deceive CRA compounding the fraud even further by making out you are still a tax resident physically residing in the country ? You need to come clean and tell CRA to stop CCB until you return to the country to live, the onus is on the recipient to be honest not CRA to determine where someone is living or not..

 

[ashikn]

So when you complete tax returns, one of the conditions I believe for continuing CCB, you also plan to deceive CRA compounding the fraud even further by making out you are still a tax resident physically residing in the country ? You need to come clean and tell CRA to stop CCB until you return to the country to live, the onus is on the recipient to be honest not CRA to determine where someone is living or not..

Hi Bs65, can you pls elaborate a bit more.

 

[scylla]

Hi Bs65, can you pls elaborate a bit more.

Not sure what further elaboration you need. You aren't entitled to receive this benefit and need to notify CRA immediately so that they stop sending payments. If you fail to do that, chances are high they will find out anyway and will then go after you for the money you weren't entitled to + potentially penalties. It will then be more difficult to get this benefit again once you are actually living in Canada and entitled to it due to your past fraud. I wouldn't mess around with CRA. They are the last people you want to be examining you closely. You're playing with fire.

 

[ashikn]

Not sure what further elaboration you need. You aren't entitled to receive this benefit and need to notify CRA immediately so that they stop sending payments. If you fail to do that, chances are high they will find out anyway and will then go after you for the money you weren't entitled to + potentially penalties. It will then be more difficult to get this benefit again once you are actually living in Canada and entitled to it due to your past fraud. I wouldn't mess around with CRA. They are the last people you want to be examining you closely. You're playing with fire.

As per Factual Resident:

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/international-non-residents/individuals-leaving-entering-canada-non-residents/factual-residents-temporarily-outside-canada.html

«You are a factual resident of Canada if you keep significant residential ties in Canada while living or travelling outside the country. The term factual resident means that, although you left Canada, you are considered to be a resident of Canada for tax purposes.»

Regarding the Canada child tax, the Universal Child Care and the provincials benefits:

The Canada child tax benefit
«If you are eligible to receive the Canada child tax benefit (CCTB), you will continue to receive it and any related provincial or territorial benefits to which you are eligible during your absence from Canada. However, you will have to file a return each year so we can calculate your CCTB. If you have a spouse or common-law partner, he or she will also have to file a return each year.»

The universal child care benefit
«If you are eligible to receive the universal child care benefit (UCCB), you will continue to receive it during your absence from Canada. The UCCB payments are usually taxable to the spouse or common-law partner with the lower net income.»

All you need to do is filling up your taxes and state all your income, including what you earned abroad. What's your comment on this.

 

[dpenabill]

It appears you have temporarily spent some time in Canada. In contrast, it appears you normally, customarily, or routinely live in another country, not in Canada.

You are using a family member's address in Canada. It appears you do not maintain an actual residence in Canada. It is not clear you have ever established an actual, in fact residence in Canada.

The guideline information you reference and link is for persons with actual residence in Canada (not just status allowing residence in Canada) who are temporarily outside Canada.

It appears obvious, blatantly obvious, you are citing (and reading) the CRA information regarding Canadian factual residents temporarily outside Canada out of context, from an overtly self-serving perspective, and otherwise disregarding parts which distinguish your situation. That is, you are cherry-picking parts in isolation which could be, arguably, interpreted in a way that favours you, rather than trying to genuinely understand the rules and policies. Note for example the information which indicates you may no longer be a factual resident if your spouse and dependent children go to live abroad with you. (Noting, too, that your circumstances, showing your lack of in fact residency in Canada, go well beyond that.)

Playing these games is probably very common. (It was very, very common until somewhat recently, before Canada made an effort to crack down.) More than a few probably get away with this. Sooner or later, however, most do not. While criminal penalties are perhaps not common, proving criminal fraud is more difficult than proving civil fraud, some are criminally prosecuted. The civil consequences, nonetheless, can be onerous.

If you were physically living in Canada for at least six months in 2016, and if in particular you will, by the end of 2017, have been physically living in Canada for at least six months in this year, that would be different.

Be wary of consultants offering advice about this stuff for a fee.

Depending on how much time you have spent in Canada, how much time you are spending abroad, and your future plans, if you want to keep your PR status be sure to return to Canada to settle permanently here within the next year or so.

 

[scylla]

As per Factual Resident:

All you need to do is filling up your taxes and state all your income, including what you earned abroad. What's your comment on this.

My comment is that you're cherry picking (as dpenabill has very well explained above) and you're on the wrong side of the law. Good luck - you're going to need it when CRA catches up with you.

 

[canuck78]

Seems like many people are both taking advantage of PR and child benefit/other benefits.

 

[Bs65]

I guess the OP will further compound this fraudulent/illegal activity when they come to apply to renew their PR cards by being dishonest about their addresses from previous 5 years by not declaring they were living outside Canada at all.

If found out to be guilty of misrepresentation their whole PR status and any future citizenship application could be at stake a huge price to pay for claiming CCB illegally.

The OP may argue that the chances of being found out might be small but each and every time they are not truthful on any interaction with the government the odds change and also declaring ignorance of the rules is not a defence.

 

[canuck78]

Curious whether they spent enough time in the country in the past couple of years to have qualified for health coverage in 2017. Guess it wasn't specified how long they had been in the country before they had the twins.

 

[torontosm]

Hello,

We had our twins Dec 2016 in Toronto and after staying for 2 months, we returned to our home country in Feb 2017. After birth, I have applied for Child Benefit back in dec 2016 and after returning from Canada this Feb, CRA started sending Child Benefit, HST, OTB cheques to my canadain postal address (my cousin's home address). Pls note, I didn't do direct deposit while I was in Canada so CRA is sending these cheques since Mar 2017. Now I got the following questions:

1. As we (me, my wife, and kids) are not staying in Canada, so will it create any problem in future from CRA?
2. Though I have applied Child Benefit for my two twins, but from the beginning I am getting cheque of my one kid. So I directly contact with CRA regarding this issue?
3. If I call CRA from outside Canada, can they trace that? and will it be a problem?

If needed I am ready to payback the cheque amount to CRA anytime

Appreciate you advice.

I suggest you repay all benefits received immediately. You are obviously not eligible for them, and based on what you said, were likely not eligible for healthcare coverage either. It will certainly create problems for you down the line, and chances are you will have to repay everything with interest and penalties.

On a side note, I can't believe you have the audacity to even consider calling the CRA and asking them to increase the benefits that you aren't entitled to receive. Shame on you. Actions like this is why so many Canadians are increasingly concerned about immigration, and also why tax rates keep rising.