hi there,
I have been whacking my brains over this and can't seem to find a solution so I thought I'd ask here. Please let me know what you think. First, a handful of info about me.
I moved to Canada in September 2014, as a temporary worker. I became common law with my Canadian boyfriend, with whom I've lived since Sept 2014 in Sept 2015, according to the CIC definition of a common law relationship (minimum 12 months of cohabitation, etc, we have lots of evidence, shared lease, bills, etc). In July 2015 I got my Ontario driving licence, and OHIP in Dec 2015. I extended my work permit in Sep 2015, it is valid until August 31st 2016 and I will apply for an extension in May 2016. We did not apply for PR yet, we will only do that July 2016.
Now, I "work" at a university, i.e. I am a post-doctoral fellow at a Canadian university, but I do not earn any Canadian money. I applied and got money for a project from my country, Poland, (involving academic research; from a Polish academic funding institution). The project is organized as follows: a university with which i am affiliated in Poland has all the money, from which they pay me a salary (in PLN; only about 4000 CAD a year), but there is also funds there for my research trips, conferences, and publication expenses, for which I have to apply to that university, fill in a form, and then report on the use of each amount i applied for; additionally, i report on it every year to the funding body that originally granted it. My research stay in Canada was funded, to a degree, from the research money in that grant, which i did receive onto my polish bank account but only as coverage for expenses i had and i had to apply for it, and report on it, and return any unused money (because i live with my common law husband some of the stay did not need to be funded, i.e. he pays the rent, for instance, he has a very well-paying job; we will want to submit a tax return together so that we can submit that later with our PR application as further evidence for the lasting nature of our relationship). On the income part of that project I pay tax in Poland every year, and Poland and Canada have a tax treaty.
Now, my questions are:
1. am I a tax resident? I am common law married to a Canadian citizen, and do have ohip and a driving license here, but I am not a landed immigrant, we did not apply for PR yet, and we do not own property here in Canada (nor do I own property in Poland, though)? I see at the cra webpage that "If you left another country to settle in Canada and you established significant residential ties with Canada and became a resident of Canada in the tax year, you may be considered an immigrant" - my husband, driving licence, and ohip seem to suggest that I am a resident, then. but: "If you have ties in a country that Canada has a tax treaty with and you are considered to be a resident of that country, but you are also a factual resident of Canada because you established significant residential ties with Canada, you may be considered a deemed non-resident of Canada. The same rules apply to deemed non-residents as non-residents of Canada." - Poland and Canada do have a tax treaty, I am considered a resident of Poland (I still have a permanent address there, and I am employed by a Polish employer) although I am a factual resident of Canada, which seems to suggest I am a deemed non-resident or a non-resident. Huh. ?
2. Assuming I am a resident for tax purposes, I have no idea what counts as my income? Is it only the salary I get from my institution in Poland, is it a part of the funds I got for research in the 2015 tax year, or something else althogether? The project has a fixed amount for 3 years, with different budgets for each year which include the salary, research/conference trips, and payments to sub-contractors for some stuff (like putting together a webpage for the project).
I'd appreciate any thoughts on that. We will go to an accountant, but I'd prefer to know in advance more or less what to expect.
I have been whacking my brains over this and can't seem to find a solution so I thought I'd ask here. Please let me know what you think. First, a handful of info about me.
I moved to Canada in September 2014, as a temporary worker. I became common law with my Canadian boyfriend, with whom I've lived since Sept 2014 in Sept 2015, according to the CIC definition of a common law relationship (minimum 12 months of cohabitation, etc, we have lots of evidence, shared lease, bills, etc). In July 2015 I got my Ontario driving licence, and OHIP in Dec 2015. I extended my work permit in Sep 2015, it is valid until August 31st 2016 and I will apply for an extension in May 2016. We did not apply for PR yet, we will only do that July 2016.
Now, I "work" at a university, i.e. I am a post-doctoral fellow at a Canadian university, but I do not earn any Canadian money. I applied and got money for a project from my country, Poland, (involving academic research; from a Polish academic funding institution). The project is organized as follows: a university with which i am affiliated in Poland has all the money, from which they pay me a salary (in PLN; only about 4000 CAD a year), but there is also funds there for my research trips, conferences, and publication expenses, for which I have to apply to that university, fill in a form, and then report on the use of each amount i applied for; additionally, i report on it every year to the funding body that originally granted it. My research stay in Canada was funded, to a degree, from the research money in that grant, which i did receive onto my polish bank account but only as coverage for expenses i had and i had to apply for it, and report on it, and return any unused money (because i live with my common law husband some of the stay did not need to be funded, i.e. he pays the rent, for instance, he has a very well-paying job; we will want to submit a tax return together so that we can submit that later with our PR application as further evidence for the lasting nature of our relationship). On the income part of that project I pay tax in Poland every year, and Poland and Canada have a tax treaty.
Now, my questions are:
1. am I a tax resident? I am common law married to a Canadian citizen, and do have ohip and a driving license here, but I am not a landed immigrant, we did not apply for PR yet, and we do not own property here in Canada (nor do I own property in Poland, though)? I see at the cra webpage that "If you left another country to settle in Canada and you established significant residential ties with Canada and became a resident of Canada in the tax year, you may be considered an immigrant" - my husband, driving licence, and ohip seem to suggest that I am a resident, then. but: "If you have ties in a country that Canada has a tax treaty with and you are considered to be a resident of that country, but you are also a factual resident of Canada because you established significant residential ties with Canada, you may be considered a deemed non-resident of Canada. The same rules apply to deemed non-residents as non-residents of Canada." - Poland and Canada do have a tax treaty, I am considered a resident of Poland (I still have a permanent address there, and I am employed by a Polish employer) although I am a factual resident of Canada, which seems to suggest I am a deemed non-resident or a non-resident. Huh. ?
2. Assuming I am a resident for tax purposes, I have no idea what counts as my income? Is it only the salary I get from my institution in Poland, is it a part of the funds I got for research in the 2015 tax year, or something else althogether? The project has a fixed amount for 3 years, with different budgets for each year which include the salary, research/conference trips, and payments to sub-contractors for some stuff (like putting together a webpage for the project).
I'd appreciate any thoughts on that. We will go to an accountant, but I'd prefer to know in advance more or less what to expect.
) i did suspect i'm a tax resident, but i do hope that the twx will only be the salary, not the rest of the project money. Thanks very much for your help!