All this discussion of advantage or disadvantage misses the point ... whether you file separately or as common-law is NOT a matter of choice ... it is clearly defined, in unequivocal black and white, in the law ... you MUST file as common-law, if you meet the definition of common-law in the Act, which it appears that you do.
If there is any choice to me made, it is only whether you choose to abide by the law or break the law ... and if you have no qualms about breaking the law, then there is no end of creative things you could fraudulently claim ... scamming low-income benefits seems kinda small-time when you consider the possibilities.
Surely the miniscule upside offered by scamming low-income benefits isn’t worth the potential downside? I seriously doubt you’d go to jail or anything that severe, and I don’t see how a tax-evasion argument could be made to stick (since you’re not evading taxes, but scamming benefits) but you could end up on CRA’s watch-list for the rest of your life.
If there is any choice to me made, it is only whether you choose to abide by the law or break the law ... and if you have no qualms about breaking the law, then there is no end of creative things you could fraudulently claim ... scamming low-income benefits seems kinda small-time when you consider the possibilities.
Surely the miniscule upside offered by scamming low-income benefits isn’t worth the potential downside? I seriously doubt you’d go to jail or anything that severe, and I don’t see how a tax-evasion argument could be made to stick (since you’re not evading taxes, but scamming benefits) but you could end up on CRA’s watch-list for the rest of your life.
