Hey there everyone i landed as a PR on the 3rd December 2010 and this will be my first year filling taxes.....Someone told me that you get a massive amount of tax breaks for your first year etc etc...i heard that you are exempt from certain things regarding HST does anyone know about this or is it crazy talk....

Boy i need to update my profile

You get the same as everyone else in the income bracket and prorated allowances from when you arrived, so 1/12 for one month in the tax year if you arrived in December and earned in December. What you end up paying depends on what you earned in the period. No you are not exempt from HST, you may get a small rebate if you qualify as low income.

You also may need to be aware of Foreign Asset reporting if you have assets valued at $100k or above when you landed. If you hold overseas, any gain in the FX from when you land to when you bring them may be subject to capital gains tax.

If you arrived 12/03/2010 then you are filing for a full year in 2011.

Yes.

Yes filling for a full year for 2011...Landed 3rd December 2010 started working 25th January 2011.....

The OP landed 03 Dec 2010 and didn't start work until 25 Jan 2011.

Does anyone know if someone in that position should still submit a tax return for the portion of the year (last few weeks in 2010) even though they didn't work during that period?

I suspect that anyone that has 'landed' would need to account for taxes even if they were not working. Or is it a case of only submitting a tax return for the first following full tax year?

If there was no income, there really is no point in filling in a tax return for those weeks unless one wanted to try and claim a GST credit, etc. The only other reason would be if he had wanted to be able to netfile this year.

Of course there is also the possibilty of income on investments to be accounted for in the tax return.

Hi


If they filed for 3 weeks, they would have to declare their world wide income for 2010, probably not worth the effort.

Also without a tax return there will be no RRSP threshold set for next year to try and shelter some income should they choose too.

In short its best to file, even though it appears pointless at first glance.

Any tax due on world income would be pro rated over the three weeks, so probably nothing doing anyway.

If in doubt (or if Jonboy doesnt explain) seek professional advice...