Form RC65 Marital Status Change: How to Notify CRA After Divorce

Missing the CRA deadline to report your separation can trigger retroactive clawbacks on the Canada Child Benefit, GST/HST credits, and provincial tax credits — sometimes thousands of dollars you'll have to repay in a lump sum.

The Canada Revenue Agency requires separated and divorced individuals to file Form RC65 (Marital Status Change) by the end of the month following the month your separation becomes official. But "official" has a specific meaning: you must have lived separate and apart for at least 90 continuous days before the CRA considers you separated.

When Exactly Do You File?

The 90-day rule catches most people off guard. You can't notify CRA the day you move out. Instead, you wait until you've been living apart continuously for 90 days — then you must file by the end of the following month.

For example, if you separated on March 1 and hit the 90-day mark on May 29, your deadline to file RC65 is June 30. Miss that window and the CRA will continue calculating your benefits based on combined household income.

This applies whether you're in New Brunswick or any other province. The form is federal, but the consequences ripple into provincial credits like the New Brunswick Harmonized Sales Tax Credit.

How to File Form RC65

You have three options:

Option 1: CRA My Account (fastest). Log into your CRA My Account, navigate to "Personal Information," select "Marital Status," and update it to "Separated" or "Divorced." This triggers an immediate reassessment.

Option 2: Paper Form RC65. Download and print CRA Form RC65 from canada.ca. Complete all sections including your ex-spouse's SIN (Social Insurance Number), the date of separation, and your current address. Mail it to your local tax centre.

Option 3: Phone. Call the CRA individual enquiries line at 1-800-959-8281 and request the update verbally. You'll need to verify your identity.

Whichever method you choose, both spouses should file separately. One person's notification doesn't automatically update the other's file.

What Changes After You File

Once CRA processes your status change, several benefit calculations shift immediately:

Canada Child Benefit (CCB). Recalculated based on your individual income instead of combined household income. If you were the lower-earning spouse, your CCB payments may increase significantly. If you were higher-earning, they may decrease or you may owe money back.

GST/HST Credit. Recalculated quarterly based on your individual net income. Most newly separated individuals see an increase here.

New Brunswick Harmonized Sales Tax Credit. Flows from the same calculation as the federal GST credit, so it adjusts automatically.

Climate Action Incentive Payment. Also recalculated individually.

Old Age Security and GIS. If applicable, these are reassessed based on your individual income.

The Retroactive Clawback Trap

If you delay filing and continue receiving benefits calculated on a combined household income that was lower than your individual income, the CRA will eventually discover the discrepancy — usually during tax season when your return shows a different marital status than their records.

The result is a Notice of Debt demanding repayment of the overpaid amounts, sometimes stretching back years. Interest accrues on the balance.

For the lower-earning spouse, the reverse is also costly: you miss out on higher benefit payments you were entitled to. While CRA will issue retroactive payments when you eventually update your status, you lose access to that cash flow during the months or years you delayed.

Tax Filing After Separation in New Brunswick

Your first tax return after separation requires attention to several New Brunswick-specific items:

• Spousal amount (Line 30300). You can no longer claim the spousal amount for your ex once separated.
• Medical expenses. You can only claim your own and your dependents' medical expenses, not your ex-spouse's.
• Child care expenses. The parent with lower net income generally claims these, but custody arrangements can change who qualifies.
• Support payments. Spousal support is taxable income for the recipient and deductible for the payor. Child support paid under agreements dated after May 1, 1997 is neither taxable nor deductible.

If you're transferring RRSPs as part of your property settlement, use CRA Form T2220 for tax-free direct transfers under Section 60 of the Income Tax Act. Withdrawing RRSP funds directly triggers up to 30% withholding tax — an expensive mistake.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Filing too early. If you reconcile before the 90 days are up, the separation "resets." Only file once you're certain the separation is permanent and the 90-day threshold has passed.

Forgetting to update direct deposit. If your CCB or GST credits were deposited into a joint account, update your banking information with CRA at the same time you file RC65.

Not filing at all. Some people assume their divorce filing or family court paperwork notifies the CRA. It doesn't. The CRA is a completely separate federal agency with no automatic connection to provincial courts.

The New Brunswick After-Divorce Checklist walks you through every CRA form, provincial update, and financial separation step in the exact order they need to happen — so nothing falls through the cracks during an already overwhelming time.

See more New Brunswick guides →