Child Tax Benefit - presumed caregiver

[singledad99]

Now that we are in 21st century and everyone is screaming about equal rights of parents when comes to custody and access etc, I find it very odd that CRA still presumes the female partner as primary caregiver when the spouses live together. I have the custody of my son so right now I am the primary caregiver. But what happens if I start living with a new partner? Will she be considered his primary caregiver even though she is not his biological mother? Does not make sense because she maybe at home but I won't expect her to be responsible for my son other than occasional babysitting now and then.

I was reading the CTB application forms and it appears that they combine the income of both spouses to calculate the CTB payments. Why would they add step parent's income when he/she is not even responsible for the care of my child?

Has anyone raised this kind of questions with CRA before? It would be appreciate if you could share your thoughts or knowledger with the rest of us.

[AtALoss]

Now that we are in 21st century and everyone is screaming about equal rights of parents when comes to custody and access etc, I find it very odd that CRA still presumes the female partner as primary caregiver when the spouses live together. I have the custody of my son so right now I am the primary caregiver. But what happens if I start living with a new partner? Will she be considered his primary caregiver even though she is not his biological mother? Does not make sense because she maybe at home but I won't expect her to be responsible for my son other than occasional babysitting now and then.

Some what of an old "regulation" but the CTB goes along with the registration of the birth, Still done the same and goes back to when most women were stay at home moms. It has been allowed to stay as there is an increased number of single parents. Both male and female.

I was reading the CTB application forms and it appears that they combine the income of both spouses to calculate the CTB payments. Why would they add step parent's income when he/she is not even responsible for the care of my child?
When calculating it is true they use both incomes... as long as you are still together. When separated/divorced they consider only the custodial parents income and that is based on only one parent making a claim. As far as I know another partner will have no effect until you are common law or married then they will consider the household income.

Has anyone raised this kind of questions with CRA before? It would be appreciate if you could share your thoughts or knowledger with the rest of us.

A little known fact to most is that CRA can split the CTB if you apply. Sorry Moms I know I am going to get on the bad books for that one. I was reluctant to say that as I am a Mom too.

[mominont]

I got married last year. I will no longer recieve the child tax benefit because revenue canada determines it by the household income.

Now if my ex was decent and would spend that money on our child - bring items for her at supervised visits, I would allow him to claim it.

[AtALoss]

Sorry for the late reply. But you are right CRA will consider the household income just as it would have been before with an ex and now you are remarried.

With a shared custody and reasonable parties it can be transfered or even divided. But one would have to ask this be done.

[momof3]

CRA will not force you to have the female apply for the CTB, they just make that assumption if you don't indicate otherwise. When my husband and I were together, we had the CTB designated to go to him and it was not an issue.

As for getting a new partner, CRA will consider what your income tax statement says, and if you file as common law then your spouses income will be considered when determining your eligibility for CTB. It will really depend on whether or not you qualify as common law or not. There are some cases where people have been taken to court for not filling common law and losing (those cases that I have read however have been cases where a man and woman were not married, but had 4 children together, had been together for many years, owned property together etc).

I know many people who file as single because the partner they have they do not have any financial ties to, but that could be a sticky situation. Once married, presumably there's no way around both incomes being considered.

[billiechic]

On my taxes last year the CCTB was added to my husbands income (it was lower) but the cheques still come in my name. When you are together, it doesn't matter I guess.

Now we are separated and we take turns cashing the cheque.

I think part of the reason would be that when your child is first born and you file, most mothers have the lower income and are getting EI for mat/parental leave. So it gets put in the mother's name.

[momof3]

When your separated, your actually supposed to let CRA know and they will automatically provide CTB to one parent for 6 months and the other for 6 months. The amount each receives is based on their respective incomes. So the higher earning parent will receive a lower CTB amount than the lower earning parent. They no longer consider the income of the person you separeated from when determining your entitlement. My husband and I are in this situation.

And since CTB is always based on last years assessment, the rates don't increase until after your decreased wages have been in effect for a years. So when I took parental leave in 2006, it wasn't until 2007 CTB that I saw the increase.

[billiechic]

I know. There is no point to letting them know since 2009 taxes will be filed soon. At that point it will be split by them. Plus, I got just a little bit more money this year as my husband's income was lower.

[wretchedotis]

When your separated, your actually supposed to let CRA know and they will automatically provide CTB to one parent for 6 months and the other for 6 months.

This certainly is not the case in my experience.
Presuming shared custody, the father must apply and demonstrate he in fact does have shared custody.

It took about 5 months to accomplish this for me, as the other party contested my application, and I had to get written confimation from three different sources indication we were sharing the child 50/50.

[momof3]

Right, my husband was the one originally collecting the benefits, and I did have to apply and submit a change in marital status form. Even without contesting CTB is slow about the process and does expect all that paperwork as I had to submit it regardless of the fact that the ex agreed. They say it will take up to 8 weeks to process once it gets to their office, then they send you a letter stating they need more documents and bingo the 8 weeks seems to start all over again, and they looked at my final paperwork 2 days after the cutoff for changing benefits over, so he got them for another month. It's not a fast process to get going, but as far as I can tell once it is going, the rotation just goes back and forth every 6 months.

I'm having a sortof opposite problem right now, where child tax benefits won't switch it to me being the primary caregiver now that I have my daughter full time and he won't sign paperwork indicating the change. I have been told by them that I will need a court document stating the custody arrangement change or a letter from him. So now I wait for court, which is taking a while. Sigh, I wish people would cooperate and make things easier. This is where you see who it is all about. not the kids, but the $ and who gets what.

[dadtotheend]

To be sure, it is Parliament that makes the rules. The Canada Revenue Agency applies and enforces them.

The CTB is only rotated b/w parents when there is shared parenting i.e. inside the 60/40 split either way. It is not automatic on separation as one poster says below.

There is a deeming provision in the legislation that, in the case of a man and woman who live together, presumes the woman (even if she is not the bio Mom, as in a case where the Dad remarries or is common law) to be the person in whose name the CTB is paid.

I have a couple where the man is a house-husband and does most of the caregiving. His wife is not the bio mom, but the CRA has applied the deeming provision above and the cheques are made out to her. That certainly caught their attention. As gender-biased as the deeming provision is, it is only there to estabish in whose name the payments are made. Another rule requires that the lower income spouse reports the CTB on their tax return, so there are many cases where the woman receives it but the man reports it on his taxes.

That doesn't change the eligibility rule that requires both spouses income to be included for the purpose of establishing the amount, if any, that will be paid.

[momof3]

I'm not sure why people are having such difficulties getting the cheques in there name. All we did was apply with dad as the applicant because he was the stay at home with the kids at the time and explained that to CRA and it was never a problem.

As for it just being for the purposes of putting the cheque in someones name, that's not really true from my experience. If any overpayments are assessed for CTB, they are assessed to the individual, and not to the family unit. As in my case, we had an overpayment that ended up in court and the whole debt ended up mine as at the time CTB was in my name and my husband had no debt with him.

[dadtotheend]

As for it just being for the purposes of putting the cheque in someones name, that's not really true from my experience. If any overpayments are assessed for CTB, they are assessed to the individual, and not to the family unit.

That's true, but if the indvidual was overpaid, it's the individual that has to repay. That's fair.

If the individual was married or common when the overpayments were made and remains so when required to repay, well it's still marital resources that benefited when the payments were received and it's marital resources that will be later used to make the repayment, so it doesn't matter.

If the individual received the overpayments while outside a relationship and is later required to repay, well again, that person got the money. They should be the one to repay.

If the individual received the overpayments while in a relationship and is later required to repay after the relationship is over, then those amounts were a liablility at separation date (even if the individual didn't know it) and that person should be remedied by way of equaliztion of family property.

[NBDad]

Couple misconceptions here that I see....

I was reading the CTB application forms and it appears that they combine the income of both spouses to calculate the CTB payments. Why would they add step parent's income when he/she is not even responsible for the care of my child?

It's already been said, but it's calculated based on household income. It's assumed that in the case of a step parent, that they are helping with the care and upbringing of the child and contributing to the household, thus the child benefits from the increased income/involvement.

In the event that you were to split, the step parent can be held accountable for support for the child as well. (It's called acting "in loco parentis").

A little known fact to most is that CRA can split the CTB if you apply.

Actually it's not that they CAN...in a shared parenting arrangements...it's the ONLY option...it's the individuals responsibility to tell them of a change in custody/access. Technically you can be charged for NOT changing the status in order to collect a greater amount...it's fraud. (It never happens...but it's "supposed" to)

Now if my ex was decent and would spend that money on our child - bring items for her at supervised visits, I would allow him to claim it.

Horrible idea. Especially if your ex has < 40% access. 1. It's fraud and therefore illegal to do that.... 2. If the ex ever wanted to try to get 40% or even go after full custody...having a binding government document proving them the primary caregiver just makes it easier for them.

With a shared custody and reasonable parties it can be transfered or even divided. But one would have to ask this be done.

Incorrect. With a shared custody arrangement (hell the situation doesn't even have to be amicable between the parents) the ONLY option available is 6month-6month split. Once that decision is made, the ONLY thing that can change it is a change in custody/access. Most of the time this means a court order needs to be provided showing the change.

[dadtotheend]

Good post NBDad. There are indeed many misconceptions surrounding the CTB.