hi I have some clients now saying they had a soft landing and were in Canada for a week or so and they want to file a t1 as non-resident. no canadian income or property.
why would they want to do this before they move here?
Maybe they just don’t understand that non-residents with no Canadian income or property don’t file Canadian tax returns. Maybe they think they’ll qualify for GST credits, Carbon Rebate, etc etc by filing a T1 with no income. However, it would be difficult to get a Canadian tax id in such a situation. I don’t understand the system well enough to know whether this is an attempted back door immigration scheme.
It sounds a bit sketchy. I would tell them to come back (or not) when they’ve become Canadian residents.
That was my first thought: that they were trying to end run the system to get the GST and Carbon tax rebate.
I would be hesitant to complete their returns for them without proof that they actually resided in Canada during the tax year.
Filing a non-resident return (ie S115) return wouldn’t get them GST or carbon credits.
thank you - i really appreciate your assistance