Marital status

Quebec income tax return

You must specify the individual's situation on December 31 and the date of change if the marital status is different from the one given in last year's income tax return. The possible situations are:

• You had a spouse
• You did not have a spouse

Federal tax return

You must indicate the marital status of the individual on December 31 of the tax year you are preparing, regardless of whether it changed during the same year or soon after.

The following definitions will help you to understand an individual's marital status for the federal tax return:

• Married: Someone who is legally married (including to a non-resident spouse)
• Common-law: Someone who lives in a marriage-like relationship with another person but is not legally married to that person, and at least one of the following situations applies:
  • the individual and their partner have lived together in a marriage-like relationship for at least 12 months in a row (including any time they were separated for less than 90 days because of a breakdown in the relationship)
  • the individual has a child with their partner by birth or adoption
  • the individual's partner has custody and control of the individual's child (or had custody and control immediately before the child turned 19 years of age), and the child depends entirely on the individual's common-law partner for support
• Widowed: Someone whose spouse or common-law partner is deceased
• Divorced: Someone who is legally divorced from their former spouse
• Separated: Someone living apart from their spouse or common-law partner because of a breakdown in their relationship for a period of at least 90 consecutive days. Once an individual has been separated for more than 90 days, the effective day of the separated status is the day they started living apart
• Single: This can be chosen when none of the other marital status options apply

Should you prepare tax returns before the 90-day separation period is over?

If you are preparing tax returns for an individual before their 90-day separation period is over and that period includes December 31, the spouses are not yet considered separated. Therefore, do not file the tax returns. Wait until the 90-day period is over to file the tax returns and enter the marital status Separated on the federal tax return and You did not have a spouse on the Quebec income tax return. The actual date of separation is the date they started living apart.

If the spouses or common-law partners do not live together

An individual is still considered to have a spouse or common-law partner if they were separated involuntarily. An involuntary separation could happen when one spouse or common-law partner is living in a different country, away for work, school, health reasons or is incarcerated. You must enter Married or Common-law on the federal tax return and You had a spouse on the Quebec income tax return.

A non-resident spouse who does not have Canadian income does not need to file tax returns in Canada. Therefore, it is important to report the spouse's name and their net income in Canadian dollars using the annual exchange rates. This information is needed to calculate the benefits and credits the individual living in Canada is entitled to.

Examples of marital status