Social Assistance - GST/HST/BC low income climate action tax credit

[ahan0723]

Hello,

I am trying to start my application to sponsor my husband who I married overseas. I read in other threads GST/HST credits are not part of the social assistance program but what about the BC low income climate action tax credit?

I am living overseas after meeting my husband so there were no income to report so I ended up receiving these credits for a few years.

I tried googling it and emailing CRA but had no luck yet. If someone can confirm if would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hello,

I am trying to start my application to sponsor my husband who I married overseas. I read in other threads GST/HST credits are not part of the social assistance program but what about the BC low income climate action tax credit?

I am living overseas after meeting my husband so there were no income to report so I ended up receiving these credits for a few years.

I tried googling it and emailing CRA but had no luck yet. If someone can confirm if would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance.

Tax credits are not welfare.

However, if you have been living overseas for several years, it is very possible that you were not a resident for tax purposes during that time and therefore didn't qualify to receive all of those tax credits.

 

[ahan0723]

Hello,

Thank you for your quick reply. I guess the name of the climate action tax credit confused me since it states 'BC's low income.'

I was moving back and forth until August 2015 when I got married. When reporting tax for last year, I updated my new status and also my current address in my CRA account. So I hope this should be sufficient.

But the CRA website only enabled me to update my new address to 1 year prior so if there are excess credits, is it possible for me to return it back?

Thanks again!

 

[ahan0723]

I found out from the below CRA site where it shows GST/HST/provincial tax credits are listed as social assistance benefits. Can someone shed some light on this?

CRA website: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/rprtng-ncm/lns101-170/145-eng.html

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I found out from the below CRA site where it shows GST/HST/provincial tax credits are listed as social assistance benefits. Can someone shed some light on this?

CRA website: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/rprtng-ncm/lns101-170/145-eng.html

You have misunderstood.

These amounts are not taxable, but you must include them in your net income to ensure any benefits that you may be entitled to are calculated properly. These benefits include the OAS Supplement, the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax credit, the Canada Child Tax Benefit, as well as certain provincial or territorial tax credits and certain non-refundable tax credits.

This is not saying that tax credits are welfare. This is stating that a person must declare any welfare received in order to accurately calculate benefits such as GST/HST credit.

 

[ahan0723]

Ok I see. The "benefits" refer to tax credit benefits and so it was not trying to list out the types of welfare. Thanks so much for the clarification!