# Marriage, common-law and separation: what changes at tax time

> When you count as common-law, when to tell the CRA about a change, how it affects your benefits, and the basics of the spouse amount and support payments.

- Web page: https://taxnotes.ca/guides/marriage-and-separation/
- For: Individuals & families · Topic: Family and children
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-10

Your marital status on December 31 goes on your return, with your spouse's or partner's net income, and it affects your benefits and the credits you can claim. When your status changes, tell the CRA by the end of the following month, or for a separation, once you've been apart at least 90 days.

## When you're married or common-law

**Married** means legally married. You're **living common-law** when you live in a conjugal relationship with someone you aren't married to and at least one of these applies:

- you've lived together in a conjugal relationship for at least 12 continuous months (a breakdown-related separation of less than 90 days doesn't break the 12 months)
- they're the parent of your child by birth or adoption
- they have custody and control of your child (or did just before the child turned 19), and your child is wholly dependent on them for support

## When you're separated

You're **separated** once you've lived apart because of a breakdown in the relationship for at least 90 days. The separation then counts from the day you started living apart.

Living apart for work, school, health reasons or incarceration isn't a separation: you still have a spouse or partner.

If you file before the 90 days are up and that period includes December 31, mark yourself as married or common-law. If you're still apart after 90 days, change your status to separated from your first day apart, and file an amended return to adjust amounts you claimed or claim ones you couldn't as a couple.

## Telling the CRA

You must tell the CRA about a new marital status by the end of the month after the month it changed: if you married in March, you have until the end of April. A separation is reported only after you've been apart for at least 90 days.

Update it in My Account, by phone or with Form RC65, Marital Status Change, rather than waiting until you file. Your return also asks for the date your status changed.

## How your benefits change

The Canada child benefit (CCB) and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (formerly the GST/HST credit) are based on your adjusted family net income, which adds your spouse's or common-law partner's net income to yours. After you report a change, the CRA recalculates your payments and checks whether you were paid too much or too little. For the CCB, the new amount starts with the month after the month your status changed.

- **Moving in together or marrying.** Only one CCB payment per family is allowed each month, and one groceries benefit payment each quarter. If you both kept getting separate payments after your status changed, one of you will have to repay what you received after the change.
- **Separating.** Your payments are then based on your own income. In a CRA example, a parent with sole custody who separated in October and reported it in January got the CCB based on their income alone from November.

## The spouse or common-law partner amount

If you supported your spouse or common-law partner at any time in the year and their net income was less than your basic personal amount, you may be able to claim this credit. Only one of you can claim it in a year. Federal Schedule 5 works out how much, based on your partner's net income. Provincial and territorial amounts differ and are worked out on your Form 428; Quebec residents should check Revenu Québec's rules. Basic personal amounts are in the [personal credits table](https://taxnotes.ca/rates/personal-credits/).

In the year your status changes:

- **You married, became common-law or reconciled, and lived together on December 31:** use your partner's net income for the whole year.
- **You separated and weren't back together on December 31:** reduce your claim only by your partner's net income from before the separation.
- **You separated and paid support:** claim either the support you can deduct or the spouse amount, whichever is better for you.

## Support payments

Payments count as support for tax purposes only if they're a periodic allowance under a court order or written agreement, paid to a current or former spouse or partner you live apart from because of a breakdown in the relationship, or by a legal parent to the other parent of their child. Without an order or agreement, payments are neither deductible nor taxable.

- **Spousal support** is deductible by the payer and taxable for the recipient.
- **Child support** under an order or agreement made after April 1997 is neither deductible nor taxable.
- **Both together:** if the order or agreement doesn't set a separate amount for the spouse or partner, the CRA treats it all as child support.

Different rules can apply to orders or agreements made before May 1997. On the return, the payer reports the total paid but deducts only the deductible part; the recipient reports the total received but includes only the taxable part.

## In short

- You're common-law after 12 months of living together, or sooner if you have a child together.
- Report a change by the end of the following month; report a separation once you've been apart at least 90 days.
- Your benefits are recalculated on your new family income.
- Spousal support under an order or agreement is deductible and taxable; child support isn't.

## Sources

1. [Marital status](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/personal-address-information/marital-status.html) (canada.ca)
2. [T4114, Canada Child Benefit and related federal, provincial and territorial programs](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/t4114/canada-child-benefit.html) (canada.ca)
3. [RC4210, Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4210/canada-groceries-essentials-benefit.html) (canada.ca)
4. [Line 30300 – Spouse or common-law partner amount](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-30300-spouse-common-law-partner-amount.html) (canada.ca)
5. [Support payments: amount you can claim or report](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/support-payments/what-amount-claim-report.html) (canada.ca)

Tax figures in this guide come from the TaxNotes.ca rates tables (https://taxnotes.ca/rates/), which cite the Canada Revenue Agency and, for Quebec, Revenu Québec.

Last reviewed: October 10, 2026

How to cite: "Marriage, common-law and separation: what changes at tax time", TaxNotes.ca, last reviewed 2026-10-10, https://taxnotes.ca/guides/marriage-and-separation/. For a figure or rule, also cite the official source listed above.

Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Free to share and adapt with attribution: https://taxnotes.ca/reproducing-our-content/