It is possible to be a resident of Canada by the Income Tax Act even though CIC may not have granted permanent residency. One might even be living overseas and still be resident for tax purposes if one is living in one of the few countries with whom Canada has not signed a tax treaty because having a spouse in Canada is considered a significant residential tie. Canada Revenue is interested in your residential ties as opposed to your passport or the visas in your passport.
I'd encourage anyone contemplating making a claim on line 303 for the spousal amount to consult Interpretation Bulletin IT-513R. The section concerning "Non-Resident Spouse, Child or Grandchild of an Individual Resident in Canada” would not be of interest to the original poster in this thread if she is tax resident but it will be to many readers of this forum. To quote a bit from that Bulletin:
“In order for an individual to claim the spousal tax credit for a non-resident spouse... it is necessary that such non-resident person be supported by or be dependent for support on the individual. The question of support or dependency is determined on the facts of each case. If the non-resident spouse... have enough income or assistance for a reasonable standard of living in the country in which they live, they are not considered to be supported.... proof of the amounts contributed by the individual as support of the spouse... will usually consist of receipts for post office or bank money orders, cancelled cheques... [Western Union receipts, while] Receipts for cash or goods transferred directly... are not considered acceptable proof of support.”
If Revenue Canada is satisfied that the resident spouse has the above proof of support and that one's non-resident spouse had zero net global income in 2014, the resident spouse could claim the full $11 138 on line 303, a $1671 value ($11 138 minus zero x 15%).
I'd also note that one cannot get the GST credit for a spouse who is non-resident at the beginning of the month in which a quarterly GST credit is paid. Similarly one cannot get more Working Income Tax Benefit (line 453) because one has a spouse if one's spouse was not a resident of Canada for all of 2014.
It of course goes without saying that anyone claiming these sorts of benefits needs to have preceded their claim with notice to Canada Revenue of their married status. The thing to keep in mind here with these tax issues is that Revenue Canada is interested in "the integrity of child and family benefits and credits programs. The CRA may validate your marital status to ensure you are receiving the benefits and credits that you are entitled to. If your marital status is reported incorrectly, it may affect the calculation of your child and family benefits." This doesn't mean that filing one's tax return as single would be without consequence if there aren't tax credit or Canada child tax benefit considerations, as CIC might flag it as a point against the authenticity of the relationship even if Revenue Canada has no motivation to make an issue out of it.
