Non-resident spouse who doesn't work with financial support

[deepg82]

I recently got married in India. My wife is not in Canada yet so doesn't have a SIN. I'm aware I enter 000 000 000 for her SIN when filing online. I financially support her (have proof) and she doesn't work, so would I enter her income as $0? Is there a way to specify she's a non-resident? Can I also claim the financial support I sent her in 2015? 

Can I file my return with TurboTax Free or should I download the Standard version? And do I select Yes or No under "Do you want to prepare your returns together?"

Thanks!

[TonyC11 · Accepted solution]

That's a lot of good questions!
First off, you cannot claim the direct cost of any remittances made to your non-resident partner. The debate is about whether you can claim Spousal Amount of credit for a non-resident spouse.

You should specify that your spouse is non-resident ( yes you can do this), you should prepare your own individual return separately, indicating your spouse has zero income, non-resident, and with a null SIN 000 000 000 as you suggest.
You report yourself as Married or Common Law. Your partner does not need to file a CRA return.
In general, and in the vast majority of cases, you should not claim Spousal Credit. Unless you can document to CRA satisfaction that your partner has no or little income, and is financially dependant on you, then Spousal Credit will not be available.

[ericyin]

thank you very much.  your answer is helpful

[TurboTaxKim]

Those were alot of good answers, TonyC1 🙂

I have attached a link to Taxtips.ca which has a condensed version of the CRA rules for claiming a Non-Resident Spouse and the Spousal Credit which is quite informative.

http://www.taxtips.ca/filing/spousal-amount-tax-credit.htm

Your return can be filed with the Free version, although you may find the paid version offers more tips and summaries.