Tax season: How getting married, becoming common law impacts your filing
Global News
As more Canadians enter common-law relationships, experts are encouraging young couples to educate themselves on the tax implications.
As more Canadians enter common-law relationships, experts are encouraging young couples to educate themselves on the tax implications.
“There are credits that you may be used to getting, if you’re a single person,” said Stefanie Ricchio, a Toronto-based CPA.
“There is a little element of surprise.”
In 2021, more than one in five Canadian couples were common-law, meaning they lived together in an official, legal union without being legally married.
That’s a 447 per cent growth in common-law couples since 40 years earlier, according to Statistics Canada, though married couples still make up the bulk of Canadian couples.
It’s younger Canadians driving this trend, with almost eight in 10 coupled-up Canadians aged 20 to 24 living with a common-law partner.
“It’s so much more common now,” Ricchio said, adding that she thinks young Canadians are moving in quicker than they might have in previous years in part because of the rising cost of living.
