GST... tax question

[EmilyM 0]

Hi there,

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, I tried searching but didn't find anything relevant.

My parents sent me my GST/HST credit cheque in the mail (for October - I just got it last week), and I was going to cash it but I read on here that we were supposed to send it back. So I called the international tax line for the CRA and the lady on the line told me to fill out the marital change form, so my address, name and marital status would change... send it in with a copy of my marriage certificate and a letter informing them that I'm a non-resident. Then I asked her about the cheque and she informed me that once I fill in this form they will get back to me with a voucher to mail the money back.

Now, she also said, that whether I keep the money or not depends on whether or not I am considered a resident, and if I was not a resident at the time the cheque was mailed then I would be able to keep it.

I moved here in June on a k-1 visa, married in August, and applied for AOS in September. Does the US consider me to be a resident when I arrived in June?

What did you guys do about this?

[Sprailenes 47]

You can not keep it, they'll make you pay it back and you'll have a hell of a time doing your taxes next year as I have. The day you activated that Visa is the day you became a non resident of Canada.

[EmilyM 0]

I didn't work much at all last year, and when I did it wasn't taxable unfortunately... so I will see what happens.

Thank you for clarifying that when I activated the visa I became a non-resident. I had thought that this was the case but the lady on the phone made me confused about it... she didnt know much about visas though...

Thanks for the help Sprailenes

[antda 13]

Hi EmilyT,

I posted something similar awhile ago responding to a past message thread here on VJ, as I posted about my own experience in regards to the Canadian GST refund issue there:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...c=156084&hl=

Hope this helps you too, EmilyT! Good luck with the rest of immigration journey!

Ant

Hi Everyone,

A similar thing happened to me too, in regards to my GST refund, but in an even worst situation:

I had told the government I had already moved to the USA (and even filed my last tax return indicating such). However, they then sent me a "bill" for an "overpayment" for my last GST rebate cheque, which was sent to my last known Canadian address. Someone else was picking up the mail for me there, while I was living here in the USA, and I had told them to "return to sender" this cheque back to the government, as I know that as a permanent resident of the USA it would be illegal and dishonest for me to cash in such. They did send it back to the government, but apparently the government "claimed" that they never got it back.

So after a game of "telephone tag" with Revenue Canada about my "bill", I explained to them my situation and told them I now live in the USA and am not entitled to GST rebates anymore. A couple of weeks later, I then get another GST cheque in the mail to my US address (maybe they thought I was going back to Canada or something) and another "bill" stating that I owe them a payment too. So once again, I play "telephone tag", and somehow got transferred from to someone in Quebec..lol...I again explained the situation, and told them to check their computer system again for that former returned cheque and about this recent cheque. And sure enough, it indicated that the "return to sender" cheque was indeed sent back, but was not entered in their system correctly. They then corrected the error, and I told them I would "return to sender" the other recent cheque that I got in the USA (which I did do). And a few weeks later, I got an "official" statement saying I didn't owe them any money anymore, and that they received both of my "return to sender" GST cheques.

Lesson learned: Never ever deal with "Revenue Canada" and "GST cheques" again!

So if you get a GST cheque in the mail, and if you are a permanent resident of the USA, then yes, you should "return to sender" those cheques back to the government (and hopefully they won't give you any trouble for it). Do not cash in those cheques, if you are not entitled to such!

As for moving, government-wise in Canada I only notified Revenue Canada/Elections Canada (with the "final tax return", and to protect myself from any tax fraud), and Passport Canada (when the added my married name to my passport). I didn't notify the Social Insurance (Human Resources Canada, I think) as I didn't need a new social insurance card and I wouldn't be working in Canada, nor did I notify OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance) as my card already expired, not did I notify the MTO (Ministry of Transportation Ontario) as my license was transfered and destroyed here by the DMV. I also closed up my Canadian bank account in Canada. Anyone else I need to notify, I can't think of, government-wise and financial-wise that I should notify, and haven't done such.

Ant (No more GST cheques!!!)

You can send it back "return to sender" by placing the opened envelope, cheque, and a note explaining your situation, into another larger envelope and "sending it back" that way. Lol...this would require postage on your part, but for all it's worth, it's way better than getting in trouble with Revenue Canada for keeping/cashing in a cheque that you're not supposed to have.

By the way, to save you and everyone else a lot of "telephone tag" time and extra "bills", here is the exact "redirected" contact information (which I had to dig up my old Canadian taxes paperwork to re-find for all you VJers), that I used to get my GST rebate situation finally sorted out with Revenue Canada (lol...yeah, it's located in n Quebec too, for all you bi-lingual folks...). Be sure too, to have your Social Insurance Number handy when contacting them.

Canada Revenue Agency

Schawinigan-Sud, Quebec,

G9N 7S6, Canada

Tel: 1-800-959-1953

Hope this helps. Good luck to everyone who contacts them in regards to your GST rebate cheques.

And good luck too, on your immigration journey, everyone!

Ant (No more GST Cheques! No more "Bills"! No more Revenue Canada!...)

P.S. And for humour's sake ...here is part of the letter/note that I wrote to Revenue Canada, when I "returned to sender" the GST cheques that they mistakenly sent me:

"I have never cashed any cheques that I was not eligible for, so please do not send me any more cheques, or any other information indicating that I owe you money!"

Ant

Edited December 11, 2008 by AntandD

[EmilyM 0]

ok thanks your post was very informative! I will do as they suggested and inform them that I moved, and wait until they send me a voucher to send the money back, I am not going to cash it or just send it back, the lady on the phone informed me that if I just mail it back to them they won't know why and will probably send me another one.

Edited December 11, 2008 by EmilyT

[Udella&Wiz 325]

You can not keep it, they'll make you pay it back and you'll have a hell of a time doing your taxes next year as I have. The day you activated that Visa is the day you became a non resident of Canada.

Hate to point out an ugly truth - but the day you leave is NOT necessarily the day you are considered a non resident. Unless you have filed the special exit form called 'Determination of Residency, Leaving Canada' form, they don't even know you left.

I filed this form and still had a hell of a time doing taxes this year all because I checked 1 box incorrectly (had to do with 'was your world incomed taxed by the US?' Isaid no, when in fact it was, but the IRS waived it immediately because I had already been taxed in Canada). I was very specific on that form indicating the day I left and the tax folk in Ottawa even gave me a personal call to re-affirm the exact date. All to no avail since they still accidentally considered me a factual resident for the whole of 2007, even though I had left.

Long story short here - call immediately when you get a cheque you're pretty sure you're not entitled to and get it cleared up. They kept paying me Baby bonus too...now they send the damn statement to my US address - I can't get them to stop (which reminds me, I should phone again). You'd think the system would have an edit to say, hey - it's an American address, but no.

Rant done

[Sprailenes 47]

You can not keep it, they'll make you pay it back and you'll have a hell of a time doing your taxes next year as I have. The day you activated that Visa is the day you became a non resident of Canada.

Hate to point out an ugly truth - but the day you leave is NOT necessarily the day you are considered a non resident. Unless you have filed the special exit form called 'Determination of Residency, Leaving Canada' form, they don't even know you left.

I filed this form and still had a hell of a time doing taxes this year all because I checked 1 box incorrectly (had to do with 'was your world incomed taxed by the US?' Isaid no, when in fact it was, but the IRS waived it immediately because I had already been taxed in Canada). I was very specific on that form indicating the day I left and the tax folk in Ottawa even gave me a personal call to re-affirm the exact date. All to no avail since they still accidentally considered me a factual resident for the whole of 2007, even though I had left.

Long story short here - call immediately when you get a cheque you're pretty sure you're not entitled to and get it cleared up. They kept paying me Baby bonus too...now they send the damn statement to my US address - I can't get them to stop (which reminds me, I should phone again). You'd think the system would have an edit to say, hey - it's an American address, but no.

Rant done

Thats exactly what happened to me but instead they assumed I was a non resident the entire year and proceed to screw me for the entire year, asked for every single gst and child tax credit payment back from the year. Basically I owed them, according to them over 2000.00.

They sent me a form earlier asking when I left Canada, unfortunately I didn't get this form and when tax time came around I got screwed and am presently trying to fix everything.

They asked for proof of the date I left Canada and I sent them a copy of my visa in my passport, that is technically the day you became a non resident. The day you moved. I prefer to be honest when it comes to anything government orientated because it can all come back to bite you in the butt one day.

and its the government people... they could easily find out if you're being truthful or not. And we all know the government likes to take money from you rather than give it away.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Sprailenes

[zyggy 9]

CRA will continue to send you baby bonus and GST checks until you file your leaving Canada return. They will calculate the amount that want back and send you a bill for it based on the date you became a non-resident on the return.

Best advice is to put the money from the checks into a saving account until CRA inevitably sends you the bill for it.

And DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES file the CR-73 form unless CRA specifcally asks you do file it.

[Texanadian 10]

Here's one for you. I filed my 2007 tax return for Canada last year. Marked down NO, I do not want to receive the GST credit anymore. (Moved to the US in summer 2007). But I had already received a couple GST cheques between the time I moved and the time I filed my tax return.

So I got a notice asking for about $270 back for the GST cheques that I cashed. They of course want it immediately. But the 2007 T-1 adjustment I filed in June 2008 STILL hasn't been looked at yet. And that's going on 6 months now.

What do I get in the mail this week? A letter showing my GST status. Apparently they've reduced the amount of GST I owe by.......deducting my new GST payment to me, from the amount I owe to them for cashing prior GST cheques. ROTFLMAO So now they're saying I owe them $180.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Texanadian

[jhunjhun 7]

Here's one for you. I filed my 2007 tax return for Canada last year. Marked down NO, I do not want to receive the GST credit anymore. (Moved to the US in summer 2007). But I had already received a couple GST cheques between the time I moved and the time I filed my tax return.

So I got a notice asking for about $270 back for the GST cheques that I cashed. They of course want it immediately. But the 2007 T-1 adjustment I filed in June 2008 STILL hasn't been looked at yet. And that's going on 6 months now.

What do I get in the mail this week? A letter showing my GST status. Apparently they've reduced the amount of GST I owe by.......deducting my new GST payment to me, from the amount I owe to them for cashing prior GST cheques. ROTFLMAO So now they're saying I owe them $180.

I just phoned the CRA yesterday to discontinue sending my GST rebate. I told them that I left Canada on July 2008 and it's a moot to keep sending me money that later it's my responsibilty to pay back that amount. But they told me to pay my GST rebate for October 2008 that I encashed. and they won't going to send me anymore...I'll see to it.