How to Update Your CRA Marital Status After Divorce

Miss the CRA notification deadline after your divorce and you could end up repaying thousands in Canada Child Benefit and GST/HST credits. The Canada Revenue Agency doesn't find out about your divorce automatically — you have to tell them, and there's a strict statutory deadline that most people don't know about until they get a reassessment notice.

Here's what to do, when to do it, and how your tax situation changes.

The Deadline You Can't Miss

You must notify CRA of your marital status change by the end of the month following the month your status changed. If your divorce became final on March 15, CRA needs to know by April 30. Miss it and you risk benefit overpayment clawbacks.

Note: You can (and should) notify CRA after 90 days of continuous separation, even before the divorce is final. You don't have to wait for the Certificate of Divorce to file this form. Once you've been living apart for 90 consecutive days, you're eligible to update your status to "separated."

How to File Form RC65

Online (fastest): Log into CRA My Account, go to "Personal Information," and update your marital status. The change processes immediately.

By mail: Complete Form RC65 (Marital Status Change) and mail it to your tax centre. Processing takes 4–6 weeks. In Yukon, your tax centre is the Winnipeg Tax Centre.

You'll need to provide your new address if you've moved, your former spouse's SIN (if you have it), and the date of separation or divorce.

How Your Benefits Change

Canada Child Benefit (CCB). Once CRA processes your status change, your CCB is recalculated based on your individual income rather than combined family income. If you were the lower-earning spouse, your CCB payments will likely increase — sometimes substantially. If you have shared custody, each parent receives 50% of the CCB amount.

GST/HST Credit. Same principle — the credit is recalculated based on your adjusted family net income as a single person. Your quarterly payments may increase.

Climate Action Incentive Payment. This also recalculates based on individual income and household size.

The catch: if CRA has been paying you benefits based on your married status and combined income, and you delay the notification, the recalculation may determine you were overpaid. CRA claws back overpayments aggressively. Filing on time protects you.

Your First Tax Return After Divorce

Your filing status for the tax year depends on your marital status as of December 31. If your divorce or separation was finalized before year-end, you file as separated or divorced for the entire tax year.

Key changes to watch for:

• Spousal amount credit — you can no longer claim the spousal amount for your ex
• Eligible dependant credit — if you have a child living with you and you're not receiving spousal support for them, you may now claim this credit
• Medical expenses — you can only claim your own and your dependants', not your ex's
• RRSP contributions — your contribution room is now based solely on your own earned income
• Spousal support payments — deductible for the payer, taxable income for the recipient (if structured as periodic payments under a written agreement or court order)

If your divorce involved RRSP or pension transfers, these are processed on a tax-deferred basis using CRA Form T2220. The transfer itself isn't taxable, but any subsequent withdrawals from the receiving account are.

Yukon-Specific Considerations

Yukon residents file the same federal tax return as all Canadians, but the territorial tax calculation is separate. After divorce, your Yukon territorial tax bracket is based on your individual income. If you were the higher-earning spouse, your combined federal and territorial marginal rate drops to whatever bracket your solo income falls into.

The Yukon has no territorial sales tax, so the GST/HST credit calculation follows the standard federal formula.

Don't Let CRA Be an Afterthought

CRA notification is one of about 20 post-divorce tasks that need to happen in a specific order. Getting the sequence wrong — or missing a deadline — costs real money. The Yukon After-Divorce Checklist includes every CRA form, deadline, and benefit recalculation alongside all the other identity, financial, and property updates you need to complete after your divorce is final.

See more Yukon guides →