Hello,
My wife and I got married in June of 2022. We reside in Alberta.
A July payment ($269.50) October payment ($134.75) , and January payment ($134.75) were issued separately to us as individuals. (Total: $539)
We made an honest mistake in not notifying the CRA of our change in marital status in June. Had no idea that it would affect these payments. Never really looked into the criteria. When doing our tax returns last week, I realized the error and consulted the CRA’s website for the schedule of payments:
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2022/03/climate-action-incentive-payment-amounts-fo...
Going by the information, as a two adult household with no dependants, my wife (who filed her return first in 2022) should have received $539 plus $270 for the first adult and second adult in the household (if we had reported our marital status correctly in June of 2022). Again— our own oversight.
Currently, after Netfiling both of our returns for 2022 a couple of days ago, my wife’s CRA statement of account shows the payment history for the CAI as I described and nothing more.
On mine, it shows an overpayment of $539 that is to be repaid. I definitely understand that, especially as a bookkeeping thing for how the payments are applied per the legislation. My pending refund will offset the repayment.
That said, there is still the amount of $270 as the second adult in the household. I know it’s only $270, but our utility bills hit the $500-$600 mark during the colder months this winter— it really would have helped.
My question is, will the CAI program / CRA catch this and issue the outstanding payment of $270 to my wife directly? Or is it something that we need to bring to the CRA’s attention? Or, is it a punishment/penalty? We file our taxes every year as early as Netfile is available and our T4s are available, and our financial situation is uncomplicated. It really was an honest mistake.
Thanks in advance for any advice the forum could give, I appreciate it.
