Filing income tax?

Question

Just need a little help...just wondering what i can claim on income tax.....my husband and i got married in november of last year our combined income is around 60,000 a year, no kids, renting an apartment...he didnt file incometax return last year and the year before....should we file together or separate....do i get receipts from our landlord......what can i do to get the maximum return?? HELP!! thanks

Answer 1

You each still file your own returns as "married". It doesn't really matter if you do them together or not because CRA uses both of your incomes to calculate any credits. You will need to put your husband's net income on the front of your return and vice versa.

There is a provincial credit for rent. However, since it is based on your incomes and geared toward a lower income level, you will not qualify for it this year. Therefore, rent receipts will not be necessary.

If you have RRSP's, that will reduce the amount of income that you pay taxes on. It's just a tax deferral until you withdraw the funds, ideally when you retire.

Donations.

Medical receipts, if they total more than 3% of your net income.

Tuition.

Answer 2

You can claim a standard deduction of $10,300. If you have any student loan interest, you can claim that as an adjustment to income. It doesn't sound very likely that you'd have much else that you could claim.

Rent isn't deductible on your federal return, so no need there for receipts from the landlord. Some states have programs to rebate a portion of rent paid. These are often limited by age and/or income, so you very possibly would not qualify, but check for info in your state.

If he was required to file the last two years and didn't, it would be a real good idea for him to get the returns filed before the IRS contacts him about it. If he had a refund coming for those years, he'll get it without a penalty. If he owes, he'll have to pay the taxes that he would have paid, plus interest and penalties, but the longer he waits, the more interest and penalties will accumulate.

Filing as married filing separately will probably cost you more in taxes than filing a joint return, maybe a little, maybe a lot. I'd figure it both ways, and if it's only $10 or so, might be worth filing separately just to avoid any hassle down the line if he owes for the years he didn't file. If the difference is a lot, it would still be worth filing a joint return, since you would still be able to get your portion of the refund by filing an injured spouse form.

Answer 3

First of all, Why didn't your husband file for 2 years??? If he didn't make any money, he missed out on tax credits by not filing.
If he did make money, he is now in trouble for not filing. Better get that fixed up right away.

Now if he makes more than $8839, he has to do his own return because he is not a dependant.
As for rent receipts....you can't deduct rent from your income tax.

If you go through your tax form , line by line, it will tell you what to put in it, and the guide book explaines each line.

Answer 4

Just to clarify about rent, it is deductable from your provincial return in Ontario.