Personal Finance

How to complete Fed Income Tax when spouse will not provide information

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  • Apr 7th, 2010 8:10 am
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Newbie
Feb 23, 2010
4 posts
Canada

How to complete Fed Income Tax when spouse will not provide information

Hi there,

I'm looking for some advice. I know a married couple where one spouse (let's call her M) is unwilling to provide any income tax information for the other (let's call him D). This has been an ongoing situation for a number of years (4-5) and reasoning with M regarding this situation isn't going to work.

Can someone suggest what D can do? He hasn't filed income tax in a few years (2-3) and now has received a letter from CRA asking him to do so. D doesn't want to avoid filing or paying income tax but he cannot accurately complete a return without M's information.

I'm willing to answer specific questions regarding this situation.

Thanks.
19 replies
Member
Mar 24, 2009
405 posts
47 upvotes
Divorce :)

Seriously though, my gf (now wife) never had any issues providing me with her income info at tax time.
Jr. Member
Dec 21, 2008
156 posts
25 upvotes
D can insert a very high income for M and not worry about claiming any benefits such as GST or spousal credit or provincial credits. Thus he avoids the issue. Related question, how does M file her return? Does D give her his info?
Deal Addict
Feb 5, 2009
2808 posts
940 upvotes
Newmarket
Are you sure they are still married? I gather they live together?

Get the best estimate of wife's earnings and put it on his return on the jacket, hopefully her earnings are high enough to eliminate any tax credits, if the credits are NIL and her income isn't exact it won't really affect his tax return.
Deal Addict
Dec 28, 2006
2497 posts
138 upvotes
Saskatoon
lotwsolar wrote: He hasn't filed income tax in a few years (2-3) and now has received a letter from CRA asking him to do so. D doesn't want to avoid filing or paying income tax but he cannot accurately complete a return without M's information.
1. They're not asking. It's not a request.

2. Why can't he complete his return? He should know what his income is, what his RRSP contributions are etc.
Newbie
Feb 23, 2010
4 posts
Canada
Homerhomer wrote: Are you sure they are still married? I gather they live together?

Get the best estimate of wife's earnings and put it on his return on the jacket, hopefully her earnings are high enough to eliminate any tax credits, if the credits are NIL and her income isn't exact it won't really affect his tax return.
Yes living together. 100% still married. Thanks for the information.
Newbie
Feb 23, 2010
4 posts
Canada
ghostryder wrote: 1. They're not asking. It's not a request.

2. Why can't he complete his return? He should know what his income is, what his RRSP contributions are etc.
1. Agreed. Poor choice of phrasing on my part.

2. He does know his income, RRSP, etc., the concern is that he cannot accurately provide his wife's details on his return and therefore tax credits may be calculated incorrectly.
Newbie
Feb 23, 2010
4 posts
Canada
What I might have failed to convey is that "M" isn't providing any information. Not gross income, not whether she claimed certain credits, not the amount of Universal Child Care Benefit.

What is someone is this position supposed to tell CRA? There is an entire section on "Information about your spouse or common-law partner" and "D" can't fill in any of it (even "M's" SIN number)
Deal Addict
Feb 5, 2009
2808 posts
940 upvotes
Newmarket
The combined family income matters for the purpose of tax credits only, if he is working full time for anything more than a minimum wage, and she leaves the house in the morning and comes back around 6pm, there is a good chance there won't be any credits available for him, and in his situation loosing few hundred bucks is the least of his problem.

Fill out the spouse section as much as possible (is name the only known information ?) and get going with tax returns before they CRA asses his returns with what they think is right, and that won't be pretty.
Deal Addict
Dec 31, 2009
1568 posts
154 upvotes
Homerhomer wrote: Fill out the spouse section as much as possible (is name the only known information ?) and get going with tax returns before they CRA asses his returns with what they think is right, and that won't be pretty.
This. Seriously. Why do people think the CRA is just a bunch of robots with no common sense or sympathy or understanding?

Tell him to fill out what he can and send in his return. Send a letter to the CRA explaining the situation. Let them match it all up and figure out any credits. The important thing is to file. This wouldn't be any kind of problem if people weren't so scared of the CRA and the first thing they think of is they need to deceive or hide something.

(and if he can get her SIN then he's golden. When I was playing around with Ufile earlier this year, the minimum I needed to do to file as common-law with my girlfriend was enter her name and SIN.)
Sr. Member
User avatar
Sep 9, 2003
792 posts
105 upvotes
Calgary
why are they still married?
Signs you're a postwhore:
1) You say "I got that cheaper", but don't say where, or when.
2) Your post contains less than 5 words.
3) Your post contains more than 5 words, but none of them are about the topic of the thread.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Feb 4, 2007
931 posts
7 upvotes
Fill it in with your info and send it out like that. Otherwise, just claim that you've been separated.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Dec 11, 2005
20136 posts
2964 upvotes
Deaks2 wrote: Divorce :)

Seriously though, my gf (now wife) never had any issues providing me with her income info at tax time.
I have to agree with this poster's reasoning. If these two can't even trust each other enough to file income taxes, that relationship has serious underlying issues. If this guy cares about his wife at all at this point, they have to get into marriage counseling. If not, then they might as well divorce now, as they are just delaying the inevitable and it will just cost them more of their lives and more of their pocketbook the more they drag their feet.
To be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. -- E. E. Cummings
Deal Addict
Nov 1, 2009
2646 posts
81 upvotes
What kind of a crazy nut of a woman is this? Jesus Christ.

Send her a link to this thread so that she can read about what others think of her.

My opinion would be to fill out all your info, NOT fill out the info that she doesn't give you, and send a letter explaining the situation to the tax office. I don't think it's a good idea to "make up" numbers or guess info.
Deal Addict
Feb 5, 2009
2429 posts
403 upvotes
lotwsolar wrote: I'm looking for some advice. I know a married couple where one spouse (let's call her M) is unwilling to provide any income tax information for the other (let's call him D). This has been an ongoing situation for a number of years (4-5) and reasoning with M regarding this situation isn't going to work.
I know a couple like that as well, and they each go into the same tax preparer separately. So one spouse doesn't see the other spouse's return, but the tax preparer eventually sees both, and so can file with the correct information. So maybe they need to try doing the same.

And when M sees the bill for the tax preparer, maybe she'll think twice about sharing the information with D in following years, so they can NETFILE on their own and save that $$$!
Deal Addict
Feb 5, 2009
2808 posts
940 upvotes
Newmarket
Paulfistinyourface wrote: This. Seriously. Why do people think the CRA is just a bunch of robots with no common sense or sympathy or understanding?

.)
Hey just speaking from experience, have seen situation where folks didn't file for number of years and cra assessed taxes based on the income 5 times the actual ;-). Hence my point of filing taxes before assessments.

Have dealt with cra employees on many occasions, they are poeple just like the rest of us ;-)
Deal Expert
User avatar
Dec 11, 2005
20136 posts
2964 upvotes
GSRee wrote: I know a couple like that as well, and they each go into the same tax preparer separately. So one spouse doesn't see the other spouse's return, but the tax preparer eventually sees both, and so can file with the correct information.
WTH? Who are these people? Why are they even married?
To be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. -- E. E. Cummings
Deal Addict
May 24, 2006
2238 posts
881 upvotes
Ok, I didn't read the whole thread but I am just going to give the solution to the OP.

It's really simple, in the T1 Jacket, it asks for your spouse's income, put around $40k in there, that will nullify any spousal credits. Then he can file the return. It's really simple and we regularly do it for clients for various reasons.
Member
Mar 23, 2010
212 posts
Montreal
Paulfistinyourface wrote: ...

Tell him to fill out what he can and send in his return. Send a letter to the CRA explaining the situation. Let them match it all up and figure out any credits. The important thing is to file.
This.
(and if he can get her SIN then he's golden. When I was playing around with Ufile earlier this year, the minimum I needed to do to file as common-law with my girlfriend was enter her name and SIN.)
I dunno, but if someone won't give their income for reporting purposes, i imagine that it would be tough to wrangle their SIN. Jus' sayin'...

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