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New Member
posted Oct 30, 2019 4:57:59 PM

Claim Oversea Spouse Tuition/Support Amount

We married on Sept 2016. 

 My wife is student studying in oversea – she visits me once every year (tourist visa) while we are waiting for her Permanent Resident application to complete.

 Question.

 

1.       Am I entitled for spouse support ? 

I normally transferred money to my friend and he gave it to my wife when he travelled (to avoid unfavorable exchange rate/fee.)

 

2.       If I am entitled for spouse support, how to claim it for 2017 ?

 

3.       Can I claim tuition fee for my wife ?

 

4.       2017 is my 1st tax season, what is my contribution room for RRSP for 2017 ?

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1 Replies
Level 7
Oct 30, 2019 4:58:01 PM

By "spouse support" you probably mean the Spousal Amount. You can claim the spousal amount if you can prove to CRA that you have financially supported your wife throughout the year. This typically involves providing the CRA your remittance records, bank withdrawal records, or documentation from your wife that shows she received support from you. The support has to be ongoing in nature, not occasional monetary gifts. 

If you are submitting your tax return using NETFILE, you don't have to send these records, but have them ready if/when CRA wants to see them. Usually, CRA sends you a mail and asks you to send these documents to them by a specified date. On the other hand, if you are sending your tax return to CRA by mail, include the documents with your tax return. 

To claim the spousal amount, all you have to do is to indicate on your tax return that you are married and enter your spouse's information. You can enter zeros (000 000 000) in the Social Insurance Number (SIN) field.

You cannot claim tuition fees for your wife because she's not filing a tax return in Canada (she can't, because she's a non resident) and so her tuitions fees are not reportable to CRA.

If this is the first year you are filing a tax return in Canada and you didn't have any income that you reported in 2016, you don't have any RRSP contribution room, unfortunately. You can only contribute 2000 to your RRSP without being penalized. However, CRA does make an exception if the contribution was to a group RRSP through your employer. If you overcontributed, you might find the following information helpful: https://turbotax.community.intuit.ca/replies/3561769