? About Filing Taxes as Common Law

[cmoody8107]

Quick Question...

My fiance and I have always filed separately, but this year we decided we should file common-law.

Anyways I did his taxes, on Feb. 23 and put both our children on his return & myself as a spouse ?? Do I still file a tax return separately??? (With the children & his info as spouse) Haven't received his return deposit yet & thinking maybe this is why???

My father told me we only file one under his name (he has more income then I)... but I DUNNO!!!

Thanks for the help!!!

[Sally888]

No sorry hes wrong, you HAVE to send in a return as well, even if you didnt work or make anything. Generally you would claim the universal child tax (the 1200 per kid under 6 or whatever) because its taxable In fact if you dont file you wont get your unversal or ctb.

I use e file.

Basically i do Dhs, he claims the kids, child care, other stuff, then when its done it says file mine too I say yes and go through my stuff. I claim the Universal blah blah. Then it makes 2 seperate files to send because we each have to send one in.

U can't claim the kids on his and on yours though.....

[Insane]

You need to file. You needed to put some info on his return. The person with the lower income has to claim the childcare and children, ect.... There are a few circumstances where the person with the higher income can claim it (like schooling, prison and a few others). But you definately need to file, and should have filed at the same time. Sounds like you are going to need to ask for a reassessment on his. I'd call revenue canada, they'll help you sort it out.

[Insane]

Person with the lower income also has to claim the UCCB, so I am not sure how you work it Sally. Basically the one with the lower income claims everything kid related.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t7...DME.html?=slnk

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/t...0/117-eng.html

There are also spouse amounts depending on your income. Hence why you need to add info to each other's returns.

[cmoody8107]

OKay I just took a look at his - and (I use Netfile - Future Tax) And I put my info, what I claimed etc on the first page. When it asked about spouse & children put our info in, but on the children part it asks if they are each 'claimed by you or spouse' I checked off spouse. (on his return). I did not claim UCCB on his return. (I assumed my father was wrong to begin with). SHOULD THAT BE OKAY FOR HIS??? I filed mine out this morning (put his info, what he claimed etc in the box on the front page, claimed the children & UCCB) and am about to file it.

[Sally888]

hmmn even when we use to have our taxes done by a professional they told me that the person with the higher income claims the expenses and kids...

But I claim the taxable universal ctb, I did post that insane that I claim that. I also get the child benefit in my name, always have.

But then again its been 5 years since I claimed child care expenses, maybe things changed. I have some to claim this year.

[Insane]

sorry, anyone can claim the dependant credit, but childcare and uccb are by the lower income. Hubby claims uccb but I get it. It just has to go on his return. I claim the kids but he has to claim the childcare and uccb as he has the lower income. Taxes are so darn confusing.

[cmoody8107]

I have the lower income right now. (maternity leave last year until Oct!)

[orv]

yeah me and hubby did our taxes yesterday.. filed together but i still had to file a separate claim... anything to make it more confusing than it already is eh?

[Louise W]

If you and your fiance are both the biological parents, or deemed parents of the children then as soon as you start living together you have to file as common law. If you filed as single in the past and the above situation occured then you may be reassessed for previous years and asked to pay back some ctb and gst.
The spousal amount on each return is reduced by the partners income which would include the UCCB. the UCCB should go on the lower income spouse as should daycare in most circumstances. The child amount can go on either return.
The child tax benefit you get is based on family net income so you have to file a return even if you have no income

[mlongboat]

Louise is right. If you are both the parents then you are considered common-law from the time your child was born. (If you were living together then.)You guys might owe from past years. Also, only one of you can claim GST credit. So If youve both been recieving that the person who received the lower GST cheques will have to pay it back. That happen to my BF a couple of years ago.

And YES, you do have to do a seperate return for yourself.

[cmoody8107]

Just an update incase anyone is wondering.
Filed hubby's taxes Feb.23. After your advice & talking to CRA I filled my taxes on March 9. Now the waiting game begins. CRA said that we may be okay, the only issue would be that they were filed 2 weeks apart. THey said if all goes well we should see our refund in 5-10 business days. (Heres to hoping lol)