Claiming Non-Resident Spouse on Taxes is it possible?

[Sunkissed814]

I am doing my 2014 income taxes and I have to change my marital status as I got married in April 2014. My husband is a non-resident of Canada and I 100% financial support him all year in 2014. When I claim him on my taxes... I get a great return back. However, I am unsure if I can claim him as he has no status yet in Canada and he is a non-resident.

Does anyone have any advice or information on this topic? I would go to an accountant but was hoping to file my own.

Thanks in advance.

 

[buggleboy]

I am doing my 2014 income taxes and I have to change my marital status as I got married in April 2014. My husband is a non-resident of Canada and I 100% financial support him all year in 2014. When I claim him on my taxes... I get a great return back. However, I am unsure if I can claim him as he has no status yet in Canada and he is a non-resident.

Does anyone have any advice or information on this topic? I would go to an accountant but was hoping to file my own.

Thanks in advance.

I just happened to see this and since I am in the same boat as yours I would like to advice you (just my 2 cents/opinion) that as far as I know you cannot claim as long as your hubby has not resided in Canada in 2014. Is he also a permanent resident of Canada? or is he awaiting his visa? If it is the latter then there is no way you can claim because you may have to furnish his SIN and also file his taxes too (in my opinion). Also if the tax refund is unusually high (as compared to last year) then before CRA releases the money, they may audit your file and only then release the required funds to you. Hope this helps.

 

[Rob_TO]

I am doing my 2014 income taxes and I have to change my marital status as I got married in April 2014. My husband is a non-resident of Canada and I 100% financial support him all year in 2014. When I claim him on my taxes... I get a great return back. However, I am unsure if I can claim him as he has no status yet in Canada and he is a non-resident.

Does anyone have any advice or information on this topic? I would go to an accountant but was hoping to file my own.

Thanks in advance.

Yes you can claim a non-resident spouse who is not residing in Canada with you.

HOWEVER you need to be able to provide evidence that you are financially supporting them, such as regular money transfers and receipts. The money must be for actual support for spouse to afford the necessities of life, not merely monetary gifts sent to them. There are lots of complexities to claiming this spousal amount for a non-resident, so it really is better to speak to an accountant experienced in the matter so you are not audited by CRA.

Some info:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/it513r/it513r-e.html#P178_25861
http://www.howlandtax.com/articles/nonresident-spouse.htm

 

[Sunkissed814]

Yes you can claim a non-resident spouse who is not residing in Canada with you.

HOWEVER you need to be able to provide evidence that you are financially supporting them, such as regular money transfers and receipts. The money must be for actual support for spouse to afford the necessities of life, not merely monetary gifts sent to them. There are lots of complexities to claiming this spousal amount for a non-resident, so it really is better to speak to an accountant experienced in the matter so you are not audited by CRA.

Thank you for this answer and the links, I will read through them. I am going to get an accountant ASAP! I have lots of proof so that will be a benefit. Great answer!!

 

[Galano1213]

Call the Canadian Revenue Agency they will give the correct information

 

[Sunkissed814]

Thank you everyone for all the good advice. Going right to the source is usually the best thing to do. So I did call Revenue Canada and they tried to be helpful but all they were doing was reading the same information off their website that I had already read myself. Any of my more secondary questions she was unable to answer to my satisfaction.

I think the best advice for anyone is to seek assistance from a professional accountant that has experience or knowledge in reading tax law. If I am going to get a few thousand dollars as a return, I am now not so worried about the accountant fees, it will be worth it. Then if, I mean probably, when I get audited as it seems quite normal for these cases. I will have support from them to provide all the additional information. I have many Western Union receipts, letter from his school, and our marriage license . So hopefully it will work!

I will have to come back and post my results and information I get for others after I have gone though it completely.

Thanks for all the feedback, I now know that I can claim my husband and I will get an accountant this year to help me file!

 

[Christoph100]

Not the same circumstances but a warning,

Canadians that have non resident spouses where there are no records for support and no support is claimed by the Canadian spouse. CRA may screw it up. My tax refund is coming and I have found out it is being over paid, meaning that CRA applied all spousal credits as if she was here in Canada already or that proof of support was sent in when it was not. My taxes were filled out correctly by my accountant and CRA still managed to get it mixed up somehow. Be careful and remember do not spend the over payment chances are good CRA will come looking for it to be paid back.

Chris

 

[Mrs.B angel]

It's fine!! You can include your husband, just make sure you have evidence to show your supporting him. I changed my marital status last year and included my husband. I just shown proof Such as Western union receipts etc..

 

[Rob_TO]

It's fine!! You can include your husband, just make sure you have evidence to show your supporting him. I changed my marital status last year and included my husband. I just shown proof Such as Western union receipts etc..

Keep in mind that just because CRA accepted your tax return now, does not mean they won't look at this more closely in the future. I believe it's something like 7 years that the CRA can decide to audit you, and go through all your past tax returns. And for claiming a non-resident spouse living in another country, there is definitely more to it then just showing money transfers. From the link I posted above:

the Department will consider such factors as:
-the income of the spouse, child or grandchild from all sources;
-any support provided to the spouse, child or grandchild by government agencies of the country in which such person resides, such as pensions, medicare, housing, etc.;
-the cost of living in the particular country and the ability of the spouse, child or grandchild to provide self-support; and
-any support provided to the spouse, child or grandchild by other persons.

In addition to proofs of money transfers you need to show all sources of income and support of spouse in their home country, and that the money you are sending fully meets the cost of living in their country. You don't have to send this in to CRA but in the future if you are ever audited and never did this so don't have the records on hand, CRA could retroactively deny the claim and make you pay those tax refunds back. Best to be overly prepared now and not need it later, just in case.

Again this is why it's best to have a consultation with an accountant experienced in non-residency spouses. You'll find on complex issues like this, the CRA call centre is pretty much useless and you can't trust the info they may give you (much like the CIC call centre).

 

[missmywife]

Call the Canadian Revenue Agency they will give the correct information

While I appreciate the help you provide in this forum I just noticed that you keep on giving the same advise everywhere...call CRA/Call CIC/call/call....members over here are fully capable of doing that....but the whole point of this community is to help each other especially if some member was in the same boat and has some experiences/tips to share with us all.

And moreover what CRA and CIC tell you over the phone is not gospel and not written in stone...a lot of times they give information that might be not the most helpful to your particular situation.

Sorry for my rant!

To the OP...I'm in the exact same boat as you and I will be going ahead and filing my taxes adding my non-resiednt spuse as a dependednt. To complicate my situation I got married late dec so that will definitely be a red flag but I am prepared to provide any proof like marriage certificate and bank transfers.

 

[Sunkissed814]

Keep in mind that just because CRA accepted your tax return now, does not mean they won't look at this more closely in the future. I believe it's something like 7 years that the CRA can decide to audit you, and go through all your past tax returns. And for claiming a non-resident spouse living in another country, there is definitely more to it then just showing money transfers. From the link I posted above:

the Department will consider such factors as:
-the income of the spouse, child or grandchild from all sources;
-any support provided to the spouse, child or grandchild by government agencies of the country in which such person resides, such as pensions, medicare, housing, etc.;
-the cost of living in the particular country and the ability of the spouse, child or grandchild to provide self-support; and
-any support provided to the spouse, child or grandchild by other persons.

In addition to proofs of money transfers you need to show all sources of income and support of spouse in their home country, and that the money you are sending fully meets the cost of living in their country. You don't have to send this in to CRA but in the future if you are ever audited and never did this so don't have the records on hand, CRA could retroactively deny the claim and make you pay those tax refunds back. Best to be overly prepared now and not need it later, just in case.

Again this is why it's best to have a consultation with an accountant experienced in non-residency spouses. You'll find on complex issues like this, the CRA call centre is pretty much useless and you can't trust the info they may give you (much like the CIC call centre).

I agree 100% Rob CRA call centre girl had no clue what I was talking about. I will just get an accountant to do it and tuck in a TFSA for a couple years!!! Wouldn't that we something if they audited you in the seven year!!! Glad I keep all my tax documents. You know the funny thing is that it is almost a deterrent to even want to apply for it and get the return. It is like is set up that way to scare people from applying!

 

[Sunkissed814]

While I appreciate the help you provide in this forum I just noticed that you keep on giving the same advise everywhere...call CRA/Call CIC/call/call....members over here are fully capable of doing that....but the whole point of this community is to help each other especially if some member was in the same boat and has some experiences/tips to share with us all.

And moreover what CRA and CIC tell you over the phone is not gospel and not written in stone...a lot of times they give information that might be not the most helpful to your particular situation.

Sorry for my rant!

To the OP...I'm in the exact same boat as you and I will be going ahead and filing my taxes adding my non-resiednt spuse as a dependednt. To complicate my situation I got married late dec so that will definitely be a red flag but I am prepared to provide any proof like marriage certificate and bank transfers.

Great post!!! So true, I would love if someone share a story and tell us what happens when you do get audited? All the best to you! I miss my husband too!

 

[tom_from_sk]

Is this for spouses that live outside of the country... or a non-resident spouse that is 'visiting' Canada while waiting for PR status to go through?

My fiance will be moving in with me this summer (in Canada) after we get married and I would like to claim her if this is allowed. She is a US citizen and living here in Canada waiting for her Outland Application to go through.

 

[Rob_TO]

Is this for spouses that live outside of the country... or a non-resident spouse that is 'visiting' Canada while waiting for PR status to go through?

My fiance will be moving in with me this summer (in Canada) after we get married and I would like to claim her if this is allowed. She is a US citizen and living here in Canada waiting for her Outland Application to go through.

Ya it's only difficult to claim the spousal amount when the non-resident spouse is actually non-resident so lives in some other country.

In your case, it will be easy. Doesn't matter if she's here as visitor and has no SIN. As long as you're married and living together in Canada then in that tax year you can claim her under the spousal amount (first deducting any income she earned from the US), and there is no need to show any money transfers or anything like that.

 

[tom_from_sk]

Thank you for your help in clarifying that!