In the current citizenship application there are two questions posed for each of the preceding five tax years (which for most of us correspond to calendar years):
-- Required to File?
-- File?
The latter is a simple question of fact which the applicant knows: did the applicant file a Canadian tax return for that year. Yes or No.
The "Required to File" question is a little more complicated because it involves a judgment, a decision which involves the applicant interpreting Canada Revenue Agency rules governing who must file a Canadian tax return and applying those rules to the applicant's personal facts. Thus, to be clear, an accurate response, yes or no, depends on CRA rules applied to the individual's personal circumstances.
I have wandered into the weeds about the latter in another topic. No need to revisit that. GENERALLY, it is SAFE to conclude and respond "YES" required to file for any year in which the PR did file, AND GENERALLY it is prudent to file a return for any year in which the PR was a resident of Canada EVEN IF the rules technically do not require a return be filed.
Thus, for most PRs, for years they were residing in Canada before becoming a PR as well as after, the PR can appropriately respond "Yes/Yes" (as long as it is true a return was filed).
NOTE: It is NOT necessary, however, to have filed a tax return to meet the requirement to have complied with CRA tax filing rules at least three of the preceding five years. The requirement is to comply with CRA rules governing who must file for at least three years. There is no citizenship requirement to have filed a tax return.
Thus, for example, years truthfully checked "No/No" (not required to file and did not file), count toward the three required years.
And thus the requirement can be met, for example, if the applicant (truthfully) enters the following:
2014 - "No/No"
2015 - "No/No"
2016 - "No/No"
2017 - "Yes/No"
2018 - "Yes/No"
The failure to comply with CRA requirements the last two years might make a bad impression and invite a total stranger bureaucrat to have questions about why, and thus make further inquiries, BUT the tax filing compliance requirement is met because there are three years, 2014 to 2016, in which the applicant complies with the CRA rules for who must file.
(That is, an applicant can meet the requirement notwithstanding one or two years for which the response is "Yes/No" but most applicants will prefer to avoid having any years showing non-compliance with the tax filing obligations.)
By the way, this scenario:
2014 - "No/No"
2015 - "No/No"
2016 - "No/No"
2017 - "Yes/No"
2018 - "Yes/No"
could easily be the scenario for someone who first came to Canada in late 2015 and was a student supported by parents during 2016, as long as the student did not have any Canadian source income in 2016. Again, this meets the tax filing compliance requirement.
Thus:
Not exactly.
Again, the requirement is based on complying with CRA rules. To qualify for citizenship it is NOT necessary to have filed a Canadian tax return.
In this regard, just being a resident in Canada does NOT, not alone, mean an individual is required to file a return. Generally there are benefits for filing a return even if not required to do so, so most Canadian residents do file a return even if not legally required to do so. But, for example, a stay-at-home spouse with no personal income can decide to not file a return and will meet the citizenship requirement even if responding "No/No" for all five years. That would likely be foolish, since the income earning spouse would likely have credits and deductions depending on the stay-at-home spouse also filing a return, but there is NO legal obligation requiring the filing of a return, and if not required to file that counts as a year toward the three complied-with-filing-rules requirement for citizenship.
And, it warrants noting, because it would so likely be foolish, even though this meets the tax filing compliance requirement it might otherwise cause a processing agent to elevate scrutiny of the applicant's case, which could lead to non-routine processing and a longer timeline.
