dave_j

My wife and I arrived in BC from the UK in December 2013 under the ill-prepared Super Visa scheme. We shall shortly be residents of Canada, for Taxation purposes only, from July 2014.
We have no wish to avoid paying taxes in Canada but are experiencing some difficulties in doing so.
We were asked by some banks we have deposits with that we should advise them of our SIN, which of course we do not have, and were subsequently advised by Canada Revenue (CRA) that we should apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) which we understand will supply us with a reference allowing us to rationalize our taxation arrangements.
However, as with most things associated with the Super Visa, we don't seem to tick too many boxes, and having submitted Forms T1261 have been told that we don't fulfill the criteria listed under 'who should apply' even though we were advised by CRA to do so, and even though form T1261 applies to 'a non-resident who has to file or intends to file a Canadian income
tax return'.
Is there anyone out there who knows how these things work?
By the way, if anyone is in BC under the Super Visa arrangement and is in the Langley area, we would love to touch base if only to help find a way through the Super Visa labyrinth.

Former Lancastrian

CRA might be interested only in income derived from investments etc as legally you cannot work. Legally you are classed as temporary residents for Immigration purposes but can't honestly say how CRA look at this.

Are you a deemed resident?
You are a deemed resident of Canada for tax purposes if you are in one of the following situations:

You lived outside Canada during the tax year, did not have significant residential ties, and you are a government employee, a member of the Canadian Forces including their overseas school staff, or working under a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) assistance program. This could also apply to the family members of an individual who is in one of these situations. For more information, see Government employees outside Canada.
You sojourned in Canada for 183 days or more (the 183-day rule) in the tax year, do not have significant residential ties with Canada, and are not considered a resident of another country under the terms of a tax treaty between Canada and that country.

Your tax obligations
If you are a deemed resident of Canada for the tax year, you:

must report world income (income from all sources, both inside and outside Canada) for the entire tax year;
can claim all deductions and non-refundable tax credits that apply to you;
are subject to federal tax and instead of paying provincial or territorial tax, you'll pay a federal surtax;
can claim all federal tax credits, but you cannot claim provincial or territorial tax credits; and
are eligible to apply for the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit.

dave_j

Many thanks for the information.
Being simplistically minded, we beleive we will be deemed residents for taxation prurposes because we will have resided in Canada in excess of the 183 days cited. The T1261 forms we completed and which were rejected, were applications for Individual Tax Numbers intended for non-residents. The Canadian authorities consider us to be visitors and we hold no permanent or temporary resident status.
Being liable for tax is one thing, being able to pay it is something different. We are merely attempting to register ourselves in order to be able to do this.
We have never encountered so much difficulty paying taxes! We mayjust give up.

Former Lancastrian

Actually all visitors, workers or students are temporary residents for the duration they are in Canada.
Obligation on entry

20. (1) Every foreign national, other than a foreign national referred to in section 19, who seeks to enter or remain in Canada must establish,
(a) to become a permanent resident, that they hold the visa or other document required under the regulations and have come to Canada in order to establish permanent residence; and
(b) to become a temporary resident, that they hold the visa or other document required under the regulations and will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay.

Temporary resident

22. (1) A foreign national becomes a temporary resident if an officer is satisfied that the foreign national has applied for that status, has met the obligations set out in paragraph 20(1)(b), is not inadmissible and is not the subject of a declaration made under subsection 22.1(1).

This is a CRA query more than an Immigration.

JonboyE

I have not seen any specific guidance regarding super visa holders.

See here: Income Tax Folio: S5-F1-C1, Determining an Individual's Residence Status. This suggests you were tax-resident from December 2013.

You cannot become tax-resident in July. You were either a factual resident from December 2013 or will be a deemed resident for the whole of 2014. You can't be both at the same time.

I recommend that you complete this form NR74 - Determination of Residency Status (Entering Canada) and send it to the CRA for a ruling.

JonboyE

As FL has pointed out, your status under the Income Tax Act may coincide with your status under immigration law. Equally, it is quite possible that it does not.

dave_j

The Super Visa has now been in operation for some time and it seems unlikely that we are the first to encounter these issues. We will submit NR74 forms to establish a view from the CRA. It is clear that the T1261 forms we were asked to submit do not apply to our circumstances as Temporary Residents (visitors).
It is becoming clearer to us by the day that the Super Visa was formulated at a time when the Family Sponsorship route was becoming swamped with applications as approvals extended beyond reasonable timescales, probably for political reasons, and that implications of its existence were not incorporated into all departments of state or communicated to them. We have met with ignorance of its status wherever we have looked, perhaps we will be able to establish some base lines, if we can get someone to venture an opinion that is.

Siouxie

As a matter of interest only, did you ask for and receive a Visitor Record when you entered Canada?

dave_j

We arrived at YVR, presented our documents at immigration control and explained why we were there. The official read the documents and agreed to our request to be admitted for the full 2 years. We had never heard of, and did not request a, Visitor Record.
It wasn't until we applied for a BC drivers license that we discovered that we would need a Visitor Record to obtain one. We drove down to the USA border and explained the situation. CBSA were supportive but indignant that their colleagues hadn't issued a Visitor Record on arrival and even more indignant that ICBC hadn't accepted our documents without a Visitor Record.
We are now experiencing a similar lack of understanding with respect to paying tax. We have visited Canada Services who tell us that we cannot apply for an SIN, we have applied for an ITN but do not satisfy requirements there, as individuals who are not, do not need, and do not want to be employed, we find ourselves outside the definitions understood by most, if not all, government departments.

Former Lancastrian

You summed it up quite well in post #7.
CIC introduced this to appease the parents and grand parents as CIC suspended this PR route temporarily. They did very little consultation if any with other Govt departments such as CBSA, CRA and others.
A prime example of this is the following CBSA legislation

"visitor" means a person who is not a resident or a temporary resident and who enters Canada for a period not exceeding 12 months. (visitor)

So if staying for 2 years and want to bring in goods they need how do they get by the CBSA legislation?

All persons who are staying more than 6 months need written authorization from Immigration on entry so CBSA officers not issuing visitor records to those on the super visa shows a lack of knowledge by them or poor training on the Immigration side of their job.

Taken from CIC Manual ENF4 Port of Entry Examinations that all CBSA officers should be familiar with

Similarly, the BSO should issue a Visitor Record [IMM 1442B] when authorizing a period of stay greater than six months and indicate in the “Remarks” why the greater period of time is being granted. If FOSS is down the Visitor Record may be completed manually on an IMM 1097B. Family members travelling together may be listed on one document or cross referenced on separate documents at the discretion of the BSO.

dave_j

Many thanks FL.
I have just visited CBSA at the US border. Apparently they are only now being approached by holders of Supervisa who, like me, are unsure/unclear as to their status. Only yesterday they inquired of their head office on behalf of another as to status.
They state that even though my stay exceeds the 12 month limit for visitor status, in their eyes I remain a 'visitor' for the entirety of my stay. They also state that renewal/extension of the supervisa cannot be done using the Flagpole technique but must be done by applying internally to Ottawa. They also advised that this should be done sooner rather than later and that it could be refused.
On the tax front, they shook heads and stated that CRA have their own rules. My NR74 is almost complete, to be sent soonest. CRA state on the telephone that this may take two months to process.
It's unfortunate, but these periods of two months add up and before you know where you are another year has passed and we get no further forward.

dave_j

We now have an update for the issue of paying tax for holders of the supervisa as we have experienced it.
First of all we waited until July 1st before sending completed NR74 forms to the CRA since at this time we could ensure that we would have been resident in Canada for 6 months of the current tax year. Attached to the forms we included copies of our passports, Visitor Records and drivers licences to provide all details describing our current status.
CRA took over 4 months to reply and when they did they confirmed that in their view we had established sufficient residential ties and would be considered resident in Canada for tax purposes from our date of arrival and that we would be expected to file a tax return for the current year and would need to file for part of the previous year.
We then contacted HMRC in the UK and were requested to complete their 'Canada-Individual' form. The purpose of this form is to confirm to HMRC that we were filing taxes in Canada. The forms were sent by us to CRA for them to issue a stamp upon it to formalise our taxation status within Canada. The forms bearing the CRA stamp would then be forwarded to HMRC to ensure that we don't succumb to double taxation, ie paying taxes in both countries.
It is here that the process breaks down.
We were informed by CRA that they would not stamp the forms because we had not been issued with a SIN. We were told to approach Service Canada to obtain one, apparently it would bear the prefix 9 indicating that we were temporary residents.
We once again went to Service Canada and once again were refused since we weren't allowed to work and fell outside their scope to issue one. We were issued with a form stating that we weren't eligible to be allocated an SIN. We were told to contact CRA to issue us a 'temporary SIN'.
So after 5 months we are back where we started. Although CRA have finally told us to file for taxes there doesn't seem to be a mechanism by which this can be done.
Does anyone know where the buck stops?

Siouxie

Can you apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) from Revenue Canada? This is for people (I believe) who cannot be issued with a SI Number.

"Use this form to apply for an individual tax number (ITN) from the
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). An ITN is a nine-digit number issued
to non-resident individuals who need an identification number but who
are not eligible to obtain a social insurance number (SIN)."

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t1261/t1261-14e.pdf

*calling JonboyE *

JAJ

You say you have applied for an ITN. What form did you use, and have you received a formal refusal (ie, in writing) from the CRA? If you have received such a refusal, what exactly did it say?

dave_j

Many thanks for replying. We have applied for ITN's but were formally refused since CRA considered us not to be non-residents. We used form T1261 and this was one of our first attempts to acquire a taxation reference number. This was their reply.
"We did not process your application for an ITN as you do not meet the criteria listed in the general instructions for form T1261 under the section entitled 'Who can apply'". The original application contained copies of our Visitor Record, passport and BC drivers licences. By this, we understood that we were considered not non-resident. Perhaps we should revisit this.
So, Supervisa holders who stay in Canada for more than 6 months in any year become liable for tax and CRA will tell you so and confirm residency status for tax purposes, but since we are classified as visitors they won't issue ITNs using T1261 because we were not non-resident, ie resident. Service Canada won't issue SINs or ITNs because we apparently don't have the required status.
I don't know how other supervisa holders have fared, I expect they continue filing in the UK. In fact during one call to the CRA this was their advice if things proved too difficult.