Subject: Canadian Income Tax (American spouse) Expert: taxman at centa.com Date: Wednesday April 27, 2005 Time: 08:46 AM -0700 QUESTION: Hello, I am American and my husband is Canadian. We were married last July 2, 2004. I am not yet a permanent resident of Canada. I will be upon the finalization of my Immigration paperwork, probably within a month. I still have an address in the United States and I will move to Canada once the paperwork is done. Since I am not a permanent resident of Canada yet, I do not have a SIN. Does my husband need to put a SIN number for me on his tax form if he wanted to claim me as a dependant? Would he need a SIN for me if he didn't claim me? Thank you. --------------------------------------- david ingram replies: A quick and short answer: If you did not have any income in 2004 in the USA OR Canada, your husband can claim you as a dependant on his Canadian return. If you had income of over $8,000 Canadian he can NOT claim you as a dependent. On the other hand, if you had over $20,000 of income in Canada, you can use your husband to file a US joint return and save yourself significant US tax dollars. And if your income was less than $20,000, you could claim him as an exemption and save about $450.00 US dollars. This would apply, even if he had $100,000 Canadian as long as none of HIS income was paid from the states. In both countries, you file the returns WITHOUT the SIN or SSN. The respective tax departments will write and demand it at which time you can go to the Canadian office to get one for you and he can go to a US office (or mail an application) to get an ITIN for him. Answers to this and other similar questions can be obtained free on Air every Sunday morning. Every Sunday at 9:00 AM on 600AM in Vancouver, I, david ingram am a permanent guest on Fred Snyder of Dundee Wealth Managers' LIVE talk show called "ITS YOUR MONEY" Those outside of the Lower Mainland will be able to listen on the internet at www.600AM.com <http://www.600am.com/> Call (604) 280-0600 to have your question answered. BC listeners can also call 1-866-778-0600. Callers to the show and questioners on this board can also attend the Thursday Night seminars on finance and making your Canadian Mortgage Interest deductible. I am too busy to answer anything from now to about May 4th and with 20 to 30 a day coming, it is impossible to save and get back to them.
