In residency info I see this question "If you entered Canada in 2017, when in 2017 did you enter?" Should this be when did I become resident for tax purposes?

[i-shrey]

Above question on Turbo Tax's website if Baffling - date of entry and date from which I will be considered a resident are completely different.
What should I fill in on Turbo Tax? Date of entry of date I became resident. (I am not sure why it changes my taxes!)

Per CRAs website - Step 1: Determine if you have residential ties with Canada
The most important thing to consider when determining your residency status in Canada for income tax purposes is whether or not you maintain, or you establish, residential ties with Canada.

Significant residential ties to Canada include:

a home in Canada;
a spouse or common-law partner in Canada; and
dependants in Canada;
Secondary residential ties that may be relevant include:

personal property in Canada, such as a car or furniture;
social ties in Canada, such as memberships in Canadian recreational or religious organizations;
economic ties in Canada, such as Canadian bank accounts or credit cards;
a Canadian driver's licence;
a Canadian passport; and
health insurance with a Canadian province or territory.

[TurboTaxJared]

Your residency status determines whether you need to file a tax return and how your tax return will be evaluated by the CRA. 

The question you are referring to is asking you if came to Canada in 2017 and if so, what was the date of your entry. If you did not come to Canada in 2017, that is, for tax purposes, started residing in Canada in 2017, you don't need to put anything here. 

If you entered Canada in 2017 and you are filing a tax return (because you established that you need to file a tax return), your date of entry might be used by CRA for a variety of purposes. For example, if you are eligible for tax credits such as the personal amount, CRA will prorate it based on the number of days you resided in Canada during the year. In some cases, your date of entry also helps CRA establish your residency status (the 183-day rule). 

[i-shrey]

In my case date of entry and date I became resident is different. From below link it looks like I should fill in the date I became resident and not the date of entry?


https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/news/cra-multimedia-library/individuals-video-gallery/transc...

Here is the excerpt -
"Host: Frank, now that I have the form, what information do I need to include on my first income tax return?

Subject matter expert: Kathleen, all taxpayers must fill in the entire identification section on the first page of the return. It's important that you fill in this section accurately and in its entirety.

Enter your name as it appears on your social insurance number documentation as well as your current address with the postal code and the province or territory of residence on December 31st.

As a newcomer, you must enter the date you became a resident of Canada for income tax purposes, since this is your first income tax return.

On your next returns, you won't need to fill in the date of entry section."

This may help turbo tax modify the question so new comers can better understand this.

[TurboTaxJared]

No, this one is asking your date of entry. An example might help. Let's say you came to Canada on Feb 25, 2017. But you had not established any residential ties until August 20, 2017. Since you established residential ties, that is, you became a resident from a tax perspective, you are filing a tax return for 2017. When you file your tax return, your response to this question "If you became or ceased to be a resident of Canada for income tax purposes
in 2017, enter the date of: entry" would be Feb 25.

Notice that the question in the CRA form (https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/5000-r/5000-r-17e.pdf) is NOT asking for the date you became a resident. It's basically saying, "If you became a resident of Canada during the tax year, what was the date you entered Canada during the year?"

Here's another example. Let's say you entered Canada in 2016. You weren't a resident of Canada in 2016 and didn't file a tax return. But in 2017 you became a resident of Canada from a tax perspective and you are filing your first tax return. You will leave this section blank because your date of entry falls in another tax year. You fill this section when your date of entry to Canada and your establishment of residential ties both fall in the same tax year while taking care to enter the date of entry and not the date of establishment of residency.

[i-shrey]

However, if you put the date of entry there Turbo Tax's calcs will be wrong! Turbo Tax is using this date to calculate basic personal amount - line 300. If I take above example and put 25th Feb in Date of entry my personal amount will be calculated from this date to end of year, however, I should not get the whole deduction as I became resident for tax purposes on August 20th.

[TurboTaxJared]

That's not how this works. It is based on your date of entry, not date of residency. [There is no place on your tax return where CRA wants to know when you became a resident. They just want to know two things: 1) If you are a resident, 2) Did you enter Canada this year, and if so, what date.] Yes, you get a larger amount of credit regardless of the fact that your date of residency is much later than your date of entry. But that's how it is supposed to be. If you are hesitant, get in touch with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/contact-information/telephone-numbers.html

[i-shrey]

If you look at below link -> Federal tax and credits -> For the part of the year that you were a resident of Canada

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/t4055/t4055-newcome...

From above this certainly goes by date you became resident for tax purposes! However, I see a note - "Use the date you arrived in Canada, entered in the “Information about your residence” area on page 1 of your tax return, to calculate the number of days you were a resident of Canada." Looks like CRA thinks date date you arrived is same as date you became resident, which is not always correct! Also, the expert on Newcomer's video series mentioned that date you became resident should be filled out. From the Video series - "As a newcomer, you must enter the date you became a resident of Canada for income tax purposes, since this is your first income tax return."

I seriously think Turbo Tax should look into it.