GST credit ?!

[ortom]

I am certain that he owes that money. It doesn't have to do only with his marital status. It has to do with the fact that his income went up, so he entered a different tax bracket, which means he doesn't get any more gst credit. My husband never got any gst credit before we got married as his income was too high. I on the other hand always received it when I was single, since I was a student and made little money.
I believe the cut off is at about 25k or 30k of yearly income, so regardless of his martial status he would not be entitled to it for 2013. If you also calculate the entire amount that he was initially given, you will notice that they are only asking for half of it back, which means for the previous tax year that his income was lower he did qualify for the gst credit, for 2013 tax year he doesn't qualify anymore, so they are asking for that back.
It's best to pay it and call them and ask them for an explanation just to be on the safe side.

So we should pay it back first then provide the information and find out if he was entitled the credit or not?

 

[little_apple]

When we changed our status to common-law we had to pay back $170 GST. My partner wasn't eligible anymore after entering the common-law relationship. His income didn't change

 

[CMLR]

Hi, I have been in Canada since September of 2013. We married in November of 2012.We are now in the process of getting my PR. Not too long ago my husband got a letter from GST stating they did not know if he qualified due to now being married and that I did not qualify. We called them and they wanted my income from 2011 a year before we even married! I was so frustrated by that. Why would my income the year before we were even married count against my husband when I got here nearly 2 years later? (Our original plan was for him to move to the USA but after some thinking we decided I would come here instead so we were married a while before settling on where to live for sure. I was told it was because what we both earned in 2011, for taxes paid in 2012 was how they determined his GST starting in July of 2013. Seems so very wrong to me. We were dating in 2011 but some people may not have had a relationship as long as ours was before marrying, we dated nearly 3 years before marrying. Can anyone explain why income of a person not yet married to another can be used for or against them as much as 2 years later?

 

[Rob_TO]

We're living in BC now. I entered Canada in Oct 2013, got married to my husband (PR) in Nov 2013, now am in the process of the PR application. Last week, my husband received a letter sent from CRA saying:

"our records show that your current marital status isnot thw same as the one we used to calculate your 2012 GST/HSTC/BCCATC. As a result, we cannot determine if you are still entitled." And they are asking us to provide the confirmation of our marital status andthe date of the change, as well as my name & SIN number. They also need to know my net 2012 net income to calculate my husband's credit.

My impression of this, is that the government doesn't know what your world income was in 2013, so they don't know if his change in marital status also changed his family income, and they don't know if he still qualifies for GST credit.

Similar thing happened to us. My wife (girlffiend at the time) was getting GST rebate monthly payments. After we became common-law in Feb 2012, we changed status with CRA to common-law. However my wife kept getting GST payments for several more months. Then finally CRA sent us a letter saying that she no longer qualified when including my income into our family income, and we had to pay back several months worth of payments.

So in your case it may just be since they don't know his family income (his plus your income) as of the date you got married, they are saying if you don't tell them or if your income was high enough, you would need to pay that amount back to them.

If your income was zero and you tell the CRA that, then he may not have to pay anything back.

 

[Kev1n]

So we should pay it back first then provide the information and find out if he was entitled the credit or not?

The same thing happened to me, but I had already filed my taxes for 2013, I took the letter to my accountant, she told me not to pay it, I just wrote them a letter saying we were living together in Feb 2013 and married in July 1013, I havent heard back from CRA yet, after almost 10 weeks. Worst case scenireo, if you dont pay it is you will have to pay2% interest on what you owe.

 

[vaida]

The same thing happened to me, but I had already filed my taxes for 2013, I took the letter to my accountant, she told me not to pay it, I just wrote them a letter saying we were living together in Feb 2013 and married in July 1013, I havent heard back from CRA yet, after almost 10 weeks. Worst case scenireo, if you dont pay it is you will have to pay2% interest on what you owe.

She told you not to pay it and while you are waiting for the answer from CRA you're getting charged the interest (2% maybe sounds little to you, but I don't wanna overpay a single penny for those kind of 'accountant' suggestions). I wouldn't wanna owe anything to CRA while on my sponsorship process, was it that hard to pay it and only then explain it what went wrong and go through all that hassle? If you prove and they do admit they made a mistake they will send you another check, I don't see what's the problem with that.

 

[Kev1n]

She told you not to pay it and while you are waiting for the answer from CRA you're getting charged the interest (2% maybe sounds little to you, but I don't wanna overpay a single penny for those kind of 'accountant' suggestions). I wouldn't wanna owe anything to CRA while on my sponsorship process, was it that hard to pay it and only then explain it what went wrong and go through all that hassle? If you prove and they do admit they made a mistake they will send you another check, I don't see what's the problem with that.

I would rather listen to a certified accountant than listen to you...

 

[vaida]

I would rather listen to a certified accountant than listen to you...

Don't get me wrong, I did not have any intentions to offend yours nor your accountants decisions. Wish you only the best with your case

 

[SenoritaBella]

GST credits for income earned in 2011 would have been issued in July 2012, Oct 2012, Jan 2013 and April 2013.

You guys got married in Nov 2012, so your husband received GST credits in Jan 2013 and April 2013 that were based on calculations as a "single" person (because this is how it was originally calculated).

CRA needs to know your combined household income to determine if he was eligible to receive the paymants in Jan 2013 and April 2013. That's why they want to know your income for 2011.

In a nutshell, when your marital status changes, so do the types of credits you are eligible for. CRA will go back and re-calculate... if you owe(or they think you owe), they will send you a letter. Otherwise, they send you a cheque of the what they owe you.

Hope this helps!

Hi, I have been in Canada since September of 2013. We married in November of 2012.We are now in the process of getting my PR. Not too long ago my husband got a letter from GST stating they did not know if he qualified due to now being married and that I did not qualify. We called them and they wanted my income from 2011 a year before we even married! I was so frustrated by that. Why would my income the year before we were even married count against my husband when I got here nearly 2 years later? (Our original plan was for him to move to the USA but after some thinking we decided I would come here instead so we were married a while before settling on where to live for sure. I was told it was because what we both earned in 2011, for taxes paid in 2012 was how they determined his GST starting in July of 2013. Seems so very wrong to me. We were dating in 2011 but some people may not have had a relationship as long as ours was before marrying, we dated nearly 3 years before marrying. Can anyone explain why income of a person not yet married to another can be used for or against them as much as 2 years later?

 

[Kev1n]

Don't get me wrong, I did not have any intentions to offend yours nor your accountants decisions. Wish you only the best with your case

Its ok no hard feelings, good luck to you too