21 February 1994 Internal T.I. 9402736 - COMMON-LAW RELATIONSHIP AND PERSONAL CREDITS

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ARC.

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the Department.

Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle du ministère.

		February 21, 1994

	Client Assistance Directorate	Head Office
H. K. Beauchemin,	Rulings Directorate
	Director General	J.A. Szeszycki
(613) 957-8953
		940273

Equivalent to Spouse Amount Year of Change of Marital Status

This is in reply to your memorandum dated February 3, 1994 requesting confirmation of your interpretation of the provisions of subsection 252(4) of the Income Tax Act (the Act) and its effect on situations involving claims for personal credits under paragraphs 118(1)(a) and (b) of the Act.

For the 1993 and subsequent taxation years, subsection 252(4) of the Act is used to determine whether a couple living together in a common-law relationship are considered as spouses in respect of each other and when that spousal relationship is considered to begin and end. As you set out in your memorandum, in order to be considered a spouse of a taxpayer at a particular time the individual must satisfy two criteria; first, the individual (of the opposite sex) must cohabit with the taxpayer in a conjugal relationship and, second, the individual must either have so cohabited for a continuous period of 12 months ending before that time or be a parent of the child in common with the taxpayer. At any particular time prior to these two criteria being met both the individual and the taxpayer would be considered unmarried (or single) with respect to that relationship.

An individual who is a married person and who supports his/her spouse is entitled to a claim for a personal credit by virtue of paragraph 118(1)(a) of the Act. Alternatively, for an individual not entitled to a credit claim under paragraph 118(1)(a), and who satisfies further criteria, an equivalent claim under paragraph 118(1)(b) is available. In a year when an individual's marital status changes, where at different times in the year he or she may have satisfied the criteria of either one of the provisions, the relationship between the two provisions would suggest that, technically, an entitlement at any time in the year to a claim under paragraph 118(1)(a) would preclude any consideration for a claim under paragraph 118(1)(b).

However, it has been a long standing administrative practice of the Department, as reflected in paragraph 11(a) of IT-513 and traceable back to the 1950s, to permit the individual in these circumstances to claim under the provision which proves to be the most beneficial.

Consequently, once it is clear, in a common-law relationship, that a change in marital status has occurred such that an individual is now considered a "married" person, that individual becomes subject to all the provisions that were previously reserved for parties to a legal marriage, in accordance with paragraph 252(4)(c) of the Act, as well as being entitled to the benefits of administrative practices such as described above.

B.W. Dath
Business and General Division
Rulings Directorate
Legislative and Intergovernmental
Affairs Branch

c.c. Assessment of Returns Directorate

T1 Programs Division