I moved here to the U.S. a few months ago and this will be my first time filling out my tax return without the help of my dad

I've just started to take a peek at the CRA guide for emigrants here: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/t4056/t4056-e.html and this blurb caught my eyes:



Checking my bank records, I see that I did indeed receive a GST credit payment one month after I left Canada.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what did you do and what happened?

If I contact them, do I lose all of my tax credit? And if I don't contact them, will the secret police hunt me down and clobber me in my sleep?!

Thanks in advance! I'll probably have more questions as I continue to read the guide and fill out my tax return in the upcoming months...

Once you file your leaving Canada return, they will send you a bill for the GST Refund that they gave you since you left Canada... Hope you didn't spend it all in one place... Keep the rest of the payments that they give you in a seperate account so that you don't spend it when the bill comes calling...

Yes, it happened to me. They'll send you a bill.

Thank you both! Do you have to pay the bill via cheques (I have no Canadian cheques left), or can it be done by credit card or even bank transfers?

Has to be done by cheque... Get someone you know in Canada to write it for you... or get an international money order...

So what happens if you don't apply for GST Credit on the 2006 Tax Returns? I will recieve my January GST Credit (from my understanding it's from purchases made in 2006), leaving in early February for the US. When I file my 2006 return, I will not apply for the GST Credit as I won't be making any purchases in Canada & thus no need for a GST credit. Hopefully that will stop them from depositing it to my account in the first place. In short I will be elligible for GST credit for this January as I am living in this country and paying GST every day, but not ellible for the April cheque because I will no longer be living here & paying Federal tax no?

Actually, the GST year is not based on January to January but July to July, so the January cheque is the 2nd last cheque based on the 2005 tax year. You will not be eligible for GST based on the 2006 year if you leave the country in February and you won't be eligible for the last GST cheque of 2005 since you will not be in the country when it is issued. The new GST year based on 2006 taxes starts in July 2007. The start date is to allow time for the processing of income tax returns which are due in April. Hope that clarifies things.