I-944 Canadian Tax Credits

[GordonRamsey 22]

Post-wedding and working on the I-485 package.

 

I have been collecting Ontario/Canadian Trillium and GST/HST tax credits. Should I be reporting and/or disenrolling from these credits for the purpose of the I-944?

[Eshoesco24 31]

9 hours ago, GordonRamsey said:

Post-wedding and working on the I-485 package.

 

I have been collecting Ontario/Canadian Trillium and GST/HST tax credits. Should I be reporting and/or disenrolling from these credits for the purpose of the I-944?

You timeline isn’t updated so I have no idea when you immigrated to the US. 
 

But as an FYI, as soon as you left Canada you were no longer a resident and are not entitled to the GST/HST tax credits. I read that you will probably have to pay them back along with interest if you cash them after moving.
 

My husband had to call CRA to update his resident status and we mailed the checks back to them. 
 

As for the I-944, I would not include those checks as household income since you aren’t entitled to them anymore. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Eshoesco24

[GordonRamsey 22]

6 hours ago, Eshoesco24 said:

You timeline isn’t updated so I have no idea when you immigrated to the US. 
 

But as an FYI, as soon as you left Canada you were no longer a resident and are not entitled to the GST/HST tax credits. I read that you will probably have to pay them back along with interest if you cash them after moving.
 

My husband had to call CRA to update his resident status and we mailed the checks back to them. 
 

As for the I-944, I would not include those checks as household income since you aren’t entitled to them anymore. 

Thank you for the information, I really appreciate it. I will be calling the CRA tomorrow to declare that I was no longer a resident as of the date I entered the US to get married, hopefully they don't tax me too hard on returning the automatic direct deposits.

 

Do you know if those tax credits would count as a "Public benefit" in Part 3, item #16? Should I be including a document for proof of disenrollment from the CRA, or would these past HST/Trillium credits be something I would be including as additional income on Part 3, item #6 - which is for annual/weekly/monthly income not included on tax returns?

[Eshoesco24 31]

11 hours ago, GordonRamsey said:

Thank you for the information, I really appreciate it. I will be calling the CRA tomorrow to declare that I was no longer a resident as of the date I entered the US to get married, hopefully they don't tax me too hard on returning the automatic direct deposits.

 

Do you know if those tax credits would count as a "Public benefit" in Part 3, item #16? Should I be including a document for proof of disenrollment from the CRA, or would these past HST/Trillium credits be something I would be including as additional income on Part 3, item #6 - which is for annual/weekly/monthly income not included on tax returns?

Honestly, we didn’t include any income for my husband on the I-944 and solely relied on my income as the USC. 
 

This is just my opinion, but I don’t consider the GST/HST a “public benefit” because you don’t apply and get approved. It’s like an automatic benefit based based on your tax return that every resident of Canada could technically qualify for. 
 

We didn’t include any information about his canadian income. I just assumed since he wasn’t currently working it wouldn’t make sense too. We only included my income for I-944 purposes. 

 

For transparency purposes, we haven’t been approved yet so I could be wrong 🤷🏼‍♀️

[GordonRamsey 22]

5 hours ago, Eshoesco24 said:

Honestly, we didn’t include any income for my husband on the I-944 and solely relied on my income as the USC. 
 

This is just my opinion, but I don’t consider the GST/HST a “public benefit” because you don’t apply and get approved. It’s like an automatic benefit based based on your tax return that every resident of Canada could technically qualify for. 
 

We didn’t include any information about his canadian income. I just assumed since he wasn’t currently working it wouldn’t make sense too. We only included my income for I-944 purposes. 

 

For transparency purposes, we haven’t been approved yet so I could be wrong 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you again for the info! I hope everything works out well for you and your husband moving forward! 👍