Late update of marital status

[Justin@123]

Hi everyone,
I made a silly mistake that I was completely unaware of requirement to change of marital status with CRA since my wife has never landed in Canada. I have been filing tax as “single” for almost 10 years while actually married to a Non-resident spouse.
- My wife has No immigration status in canada.
- She made around 5-6k/year back in her country.
- I have never claimed for any spousal benefit or CCB.
- I have low income for most of them time (~5-9k/year), some year with no income and rely on family support. I have never claimed for welfare or unemployment benefit.

Now I am really worried about to send cra a letter to explain and form rc65 to change of status. I do not know how angry they gonna be and how much penalties for really late updating information.
Could anyone has been through the similar situation and has knowledge on this matter give me advise wwhat to do. Appreciate and thank you very much for any help.

 

[Naturgrl]

So you have been committing tax fraud so get a good accountant. Your years as married may be recalculated.

 

[CanGoldDigger]

So you have been committing tax fraud so get a good accountant. Your years as married may be recalculated.

Doesn't it matter that his wife is not in Canada and they are married long distance, basically just on paper. In my understanding at least.

 

[Naturgrl]

Doesn't it matter that his wife is not in Canada and they are married long distance, basically just on paper. In my understanding at least.

But filed as "single" when married. Again good accountant will figure it out.

 

[CanGoldDigger]

But filed as "single" when married. Again good accountant will figure it out.

De facto, he is single. The same case is with children. If they are not with you in Canada, you claim that you don't have children in Canada. I am not claiming it's correct, just wonder.

 

[Naturgrl]

De facto, he is single. The same case is with children. If they are not with you in Canada, you claim that you don't have children in Canada. I am not claiming it's correct, just wonder.

Here is the CRA definition.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-ag...sonal-address-information/marital-status.html

Married means that you have a spouse. This term only applies to a person you are legally married to.

Single means that none of the other marital statuses applies to you.

 

[CanGoldDigger]

Here is the CRA definition.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-ag...sonal-address-information/marital-status.html

Married means that you have a spouse. This term only applies to a person you are legally married to.

Single means that none of the other marital statuses applies to you.

It's not that straightforward. Your marriage should be in good standing so to say. You need to support financially each other. If not, you cannot claim you are married. The same with children I mentioned. If the children don't live with you in Canada, CRA doesn't care if you have children elsewhere.

 

[Justin@123]

So you have been committing tax fraud so get a good accountant. Your years as married may be recalculated.

Thank you for your reply

 

[Justin@123]

It's not that straightforward. Your marriage should be in good standing so to say. You need to support financially each other. If not, you cannot claim you are married. The same with children I mentioned. If the children don't live with you in Canada, CRA doesn't care if you have children elsewhere.

Thank you for your reply,

I know I must change my status without any further delay. I am just not clear about what kind of benefits are affected or recalculated based on Non-resident spouses world Income. Because there are ideas saying that there is no affect due to non-resident spouse and income is not from Canada sources. Some others claim that non-resident spouse world income has impact on some benefits I receive in Canada since family net income change.

I dont know how complicated this might be when I change status that late. I hope there is least to non affect to benefits I have received previous. I dont worry about pay back any overpaid,

Thank you very much

 

[steaky]

It's not that straightforward. Your marriage should be in good standing so to say. You need to support financially each other. If not, you cannot claim you are married. The same with children I mentioned. If the children don't live with you in Canada, CRA doesn't care if you have children elsewhere.

Couldn't each spouse be financially independent of each other? With only things like emotion support of each other? How about children financially support by the spouse living outside Canada?

 

[Justin@123]

Couldn't each spouse be financially independent of each other? With only things like emotion support of each other? How about children financially support by the spouse living outside Canada?

Thank you for your reply,
I would like to know what type of benefits are affected by non-resident spouse world income. And is it possible to change status late.

Thank you very much

 

[steaky]

Thank you for your reply,
I would like to know what type of benefits are affected by non-resident spouse world income. And is it possible to change status late.

Thank you very much

I seconded the responses from @Naturgrl. Contact a good tax accountant.