I am married to a non-Canadian and does not live in Canada, how do I file my tax as "Married" but separately with my spouse since I am not claiming any benefits for my spouse as he is no ties and not a Canadian?

[Brown20]

I got married to a non-Canadian who still lives and works aboard, while I still live and work in Canada. I changed my marital status to "Married" and even though I specified that I will be filing the income tax return separately, but it seems that his benefits are added to my return which I don't want to claim as my husband is not a Canadian and does not live in Canada.

[TurboTaxBrenda]

Congratulations on getting married! When you complete a tax return, if you are married or separated, the Canada Revenue Agency still requires information about your spouse. If you need tax advice about your situation and income tax return, we recommend that you contact the CRA for information at 1-800-959-8281.

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[Linda148]

I called CRA at the number you provided and they said it is a software issue. I cannot claim married and enter my spouse's social security number. It will only let me put in a SIN number. Also, the software does not give me the option of filing my spouse as a non-resident, as we are doing our taxes separately. Our finances are completely separate. This was not an issue last year, but the software has changed dramatically for the 2024 tax year. I have only "married" as an option, and no options after that. I cannot move forward with my taxes as the system won't let me. This is incredibly frustrating. Please advise...

[TurboTaxAniqua]

Are you preparing a joint return? It dos ask you for your Marital status. 

We suggest you to contact our Product support team. They have access to tools we don't have here in Community, like screenshare to guide you through. 

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.