Hello all,

Am entering Alberta on a work permit, do we get child benefit for my children?

Thanks

What you are looking for is "Canada Child Tax Benefit", and its dependent on your previous years reported taxable income. As a new resident I believe you are "SOOL" on that one till next year, but i might be wrong.

"You can apply for this credit by completing Form RC66, Canada Child Tax Benefit Application and submitting it to the Canada Revenue Agency with all the required documents. You also may need to submit a completed RC66 Schedule, Status in Canada/Statement of Income.

Pamphlet T4114, Your Canada Child Tax Benefit provides more information. For a copy of this pamphlet or to order forms, see the Canada Revenue Agency website or call 1-800-959-2221 toll-free."

Again, from the Alberta government "newcomers" website
http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/welcometoalberta/taxes.asp

Iain,

I have never registered for Child Tax Benefit - am I understanding you that I have done the right thing by not registering right now and waiting until we have an income assessment shown by our Tax Returns for our first year? This was my understanding which is why I haven't applied for it yet - can you kindly clarify? Thanks.

I'm not 100% sure. It may be possible to register you last UK income (after all there are reciprocal tax agreements) and use this to get Canadian CTTB? One for the accountants among us...or perhaps the 800 line?

The ontario settlement.org site says this...

To apply for the CCTB, complete the Canada Child Tax Benefit Application form. Newcomers will have to fill out additional forms, depending on a number of issues. This can be a confusing process. We suggest that you contact an immigrant service agency in your area for assistance.

For example, to be able to apply for the Canada Child Tax Benefit, you must first have filed an Income Tax and Benefit Return. If you were not residents of Canada in time to fill out a return, you will need to complete a separate form to declare your world income.


It also (unfortunately for the OP) says that its PRs ,Refugees and Citizens only, so if you are on a work permit you are out of luck on this one. (along with welfare, unemployment and pensions too)

When we arrived on a work permit we were not allowed to apply for child tax credit until we had officially Landed. Once you have Landed they back date it.

I applied in June or July (moved here in May) and have just had it set-up and processed along with backpayments from May onwards. I did file a Canadian return in previous years but as a non-resident, so I'm not sure that was relevant. I put down what Mr B's income was for the years they requested, but did not have to submit any proof of this.

Oh thank you all - not sure what to do now....I think I will just wait until we have filed this year's Tax Returns and take it from there.

Now you see this is also the case with us - we have also filed Tax Returns for previous years too. Hmm dilemma now as to what to do. Perhaps it is still best waiting until after 2005 Tax Returns have been filed??

If you dont ask, you wont get. Its not a lot of money granted, but its worth the cost of a stamp!

Interesting. Worth asking for on a work permit then after all.

We arrived in Oct 04. When my husband filed his tax return here they said we were not entitled to child tax credit until we landed. We landed in June 05 and applied in Aug, it was backdated to July as they don't count the first month you file. When filling the form in we had to say what we had earned in Canada then what we had earned in the UK for the previous year. They seemed happy with that. It's worth giving them a call though and double check.

OK, I misread it I think. So if I understand now, you cant get it as a temporary resident, but when your PR does comes through, you can apply and get it back dated a bit if your residency came through in the middle of the tax year, but you dont get the first month?

The implication from your statement is that as an NHS dentist in the UK you earned little enough to get CTB in Canada! I dont remember where the cut off is but its not high after you convert from $ to GBP.

Am I understanding you correctly?

Tia - your situation is even more complicated than most. For tax purposes you are still a couple (whether married or not) as you are only apart for work purposes (if I remember your other posts correctly). That means you need to be declaring your husbands income for tax and CTB purposes and if he is making that little from his UK business you should be telling him to get himself over here asap!

Yep. Declared his earnings truthfully and accurately, fully expecting them to follow-up with a "can we see his UK assessment?" letter (they never did). And we seem to have qualified. I wasn't even aware it was a means-tested benefit until your post.

So, fake smiles and kiddy straightjackets aside, do you see why he's here now?!