If my common law partner and I file jointly, and one of us owes student loan debt, can the whole return be taken? Or just one portion?

[matthewdyer96]

Basically, my common law partner has supported me with his income all year. I made less than 5 grand, I basically had no income. If we file together, he is eligible for the SCP amount. When I did the return, it said the overall return was about 1800. 1300 of that being my partners portion and 500 of that being my portion. Since I owe money to the government for my student loans and the CRA can take my taxes, can they take the full amount or just my amount??

[TurboTaxJennifer]

Your own debt belongs to just you. Your partner's refund will not be affected.

[matthewdyer96]

Even if we file jointly? They will only take the 500 of the partners refund who owes the debt?

Also what I don't understand is in turbo tax we filed jointly and the overall refund is 1800 but they split it up in the summary, saying 1300 of that is one partners and 500 is the others. So why are those returns separated if we file jointly????

[TurboTaxJennifer]

I can explain. In Canada, there is no such thing as a "joint" return. TurboTax does offer the option to prepare a coupled return. This means that 2 separate tax returns are generated but, for ease of claiming credits/deductions, both returns are prepared at the same time. You'll still file two returns. For CRA, your tax account and your partner's tax account remain 100% separate.