Ex not declaring tax

[chskin]

My ex rents out her basement but does not declare her income on her taxes. This has been going on for 3 years and I just found out. Because her income is lower than it should be, I have been over paying child support each month. To the cumulative tune of two thousand dollars.

Not sure how to handle this. I am afraid if I report her she will get a criminal conviction and it will be stressful on the kids. I don't want to confront her because it will look like I am blackmailing her and it will sour our relationship even more.

Any ideas on how I could go about this? What would happen to her is she got caught? She travels for work so I am afraid it could impact that.

[arabian]

Before you start counting your chickens, take a look at the CRA forms one must complete at tax time. If your ex were to declare this 'income' she would also be able to claim 'expenses' so the net addition to her income tax return may be quite insignificant.

CRA would reassess and generate new NOA's with a balance that she would have to pay. She can make arrangement with CRA to pay (If she cannot afford to pay all at once).

The challenge you have is getting her to voluntarily refile her tax returns. If you were to anonymously contact CRA they very likely would not do anything as I understand complaints from ex-spouses isn't top on their list of reliable sources.

Probably you would be looking at filing an application, requesting income be imputed to her. If you are using a lawyer, cost of lawyer would likely far exceed what you hope to recover in over payment of CS.

Others on here might have some good points for you.

[rockscan]

Two thousand dollars over three years is not a large sum of money and you would spend $5000 at least to just get in front of a judge to hear it.

Added to that, arabian is right that her expenses would reduce her income further which would make the whole thing a waste of time and energy.

[failed@life]

CRA will most likely do jack squat if she was reported... I tried to report my ex for the same - undeclared rental income plus business income - I gave them a package that was almost 200 pages that included client lists, business materials like pamphlets & business cards and all kinds of templates, I even had pictures of every page of her books for a year... That was 3 years ago and nothing happened.