What to take away
- You are treated as separated for tax purposes after living apart for at least 90 days because of a relationship breakdown, and you tell the CRA by the end of the month after your status changes.
- Child support under an order or agreement made after April 1997 is generally not deductible or taxable, while spousal support generally is, so the wording of the agreement drives the tax result.
- RRSP transfers between spouses on a breakdown can be tax-free with the right documents, and a sale of the family home still has to be reported.
When you count as separated
For the CRA, separated means that you have lived apart from your spouse or common-law partner because of a breakdown in the relationship for at least 90 days. Once that period is reached, the effective date of your separated status is the day you started living apart, not the day the 90 days ended. Living apart for work, school, health reasons or incarceration is not a breakdown, so those couples are still treated as having a spouse.
Your return uses your marital status on December 31. If you file before the 90 days are over and the period includes December 31, the CRA says to enter married or living common-law. If you stay apart for the full 90 days after filing, you change your status to separated using the first day of the period, and you must file an amended return to adjust any amounts affected. Divorce is simpler: it applies once you are legally divorced.
Telling the CRA and what happens to benefits
You must tell the CRA about a new marital status by the end of the month after the change. For a separation, wait until the 90 days have passed first. You can update it in your CRA account, by phone or by mailing Form RC65, Marital Status Change. The CRA does not pass the change to other departments, so you need to update others yourself.
Benefits and credits such as the Canada child benefit are calculated from adjusted family net income, which includes a spouse’s or partner’s income while you are a couple. When your status changes, the CRA recalculates and the adjustment starts the month after the change. If you were paid too much, you will receive a notice and a remittance voucher. The CRA advises against waiting for filing season to update your status, and if a recalculation shows you were paid too much, you will receive a notice with a remittance voucher.
Spousal support and child support are taxed differently
For a court order or written agreement made after April 1997, child support is generally not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient. Spousal support, paid periodically under an order or agreement while you live apart because of a breakdown, is generally deductible by the payer and taxable to the recipient. The CRA says that if an order covers both and does not specify an amount for the spouse, all of it is treated as child support. Older orders made before May 1997 follow different rules, which can be changed by an election on Form T1157 or by a later variation.
This is why the words in the agreement matter. A payment that is not made under an order or agreement, or is not periodic, is generally neither deductible nor taxable. Ask your lawyer to write support in a way you understand, and ask an accountant to explain the after-tax cost before it is final.
An illustrative example of reporting support
The numbers here are round and illustrative only. Suppose an order made after April 1997 requires a payer to pay $1,200 a month for two children and $400 a month in spousal support, for 12 months. The payer enters the full $19,200 on line 21999 and the deductible $4,800, the spousal part, on line 22000. The recipient reports the $4,800 on line 12800, with the total received on line 12799. The CRA adds that the spousal amount is only deductible once child support owing for earlier years is fully paid, so arrears matter.
The CRA asks you to register the court order or written agreement. Keep proof of payment, such as cancelled cheques, bank statements showing the transfers or a statement from a maintenance enforcement program. Pocket money or gifts above what the order requires are not support payments, and a single catch-up payment of $3,000 or more that you can deduct needs Form T1198, which the payer gives the recipient.
The year you separate: support or a credit
In most cases you cannot claim a credit for a person you had to pay support for. The CRA allows an exception in the year of the breakdown. If you lived apart for only part of the year, you can usually choose between deducting the spousal support you paid and claiming the spouse or common-law partner amount, whichever helps you more. If you choose the credit, enter the total support paid on line 21999 and zero on line 22000, so that the CRA still has a record of the payments.
The recipient reports support received in either case. The better choice depends on the other person’s income, so work it out for both returns together, even if you are on difficult terms. Legal and accounting fees paid to obtain a separation or divorce, to negotiate or contest support, or to establish custody or access are not deductible on the support lines.
Who claims a child
The amount for an eligible dependant, claimed on line 30400, is available to a person who was single, divorced, separated or widowed and supported a dependant living with them in a home they maintained. Each household can make one claim, and you cannot claim for a child you had to pay support for, apart from the part-year exception above. If you and the other parent could both claim and cannot agree who will, neither of you can. When both of you had to pay support for the child, one claim is allowed only if you agree.
Put the decision in writing and check it against the benefit and child care arrangements, because these claims can interact. The child care expense deduction has its own rules about which parent claims it, covered in the child care article. If the CRA later asks you to support a claim, an agreement that both parents signed is much easier to defend than a verbal arrangement.
Dividing RRSPs and other property
A transfer of RRSP or RRIF money to the plan of a current or former spouse can be made without tax if the recipient is entitled to it under a court order or a written agreement dividing property after the breakdown, and the two of you are living apart at the time. The plan issuer uses Form T2220 for the transfer, and it is a direct transfer from one plan to the other rather than a withdrawal. Withdrawing the money and handing it over does not qualify and creates income for the person who withdraws.
Other property, such as investments or a business, needs its own review. Some transfers can have tax consequences, and the cost used for later tax calculations matters to whoever keeps the property. Ask the accountant about the tax cost of each asset before agreeing how to split them, because two assets with the same value on paper can carry very different tax.
The family home and what to bring to your accountant
If a home was your principal residence, selling it generally means you report the sale on Schedule 3 and designate the property on Form T2091(IND). The residential property flipping rule, which treats gains on housing owned fewer than 365 consecutive days as business income, has an exception for a breakdown of a marriage or common-law partnership if you had lived apart for at least 90 days before the sale.
Bring the order or agreement and every draft, proof of support payments, benefit notices, your last two notices of assessment, RRSP statements, purchase and sale documents for the home, and the date you began living apart. Ask which dates matter, how the support is taxed, who claims each child and what each asset costs in tax. The personal tax return guide and the principal residence guide cover the paperwork.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources checked October 24, 2026. The examples are illustrative and provide general information. Discuss how the guidance applies to your circumstances with your accountant.
- Marital statusCanada Revenue Agency
- Change your marital statusCanada Revenue Agency
- Lines 21999 and 22000 – Support payments madeCanada Revenue Agency
- Support payments: amount you can claim or reportCanada Revenue Agency
- Amount for an eligible dependantCanada Revenue Agency
- Transfer of funds (T4RSP and T4RIF)Canada Revenue Agency
- T2220 Transfer on breakdown of marriage or common-law partnershipCanada Revenue Agency
- Principal residenceCanada Revenue Agency
Rules and guidance can change. Use the current official source and confirm the treatment for your facts. To flag an error, contact Sora.