I'm married or common-law and my spouse has no income. Can I file only my tax return and report my spouse as a dependant?

The straight answer is no. Different from other countries, Canada requires that each individual file their own tax return if they are required to.

Even though your spouse has no income to report, filing a blank income tax return may be beneficial for the couple. This will enable the application of certain government benefits such as Canada Child Benefit, GST/HST Credit, OTB (Ontario Trillium Benefit), etc.

If you are married or common-law, the rule of thumb is that a couple files their tax return jointly, i.e., have both tax returns prepared at the same time by the same accountant.

Doing that you reduce the chance of getting discrepancy numbers between your tax return and your spouse's tax return.

At iRefund we take extra care when it comes to couple tax return as we make efforts to use all possible interchangeable tax credits and optimize the final result for both taxpayers.

Start your tax return process using this link: Tax Organizer