Claiming single or married exemption in year of

Good Afternoon David.
Can you advise me on how to handle my current situation?  Your paragraph on
Marital Status states:
	In the year of re-marriage, you may still claim the "equivalent to
married" exemption. Remember, you qualify because "at some time" during the
year you were a sole head of the household. Your new spouse cannot make any
claim in the year of re-marriage for the person you claim as equivalent to
married.
I was divorced in 2001 and have sole custody of my four children.  Since the
separation, I have been claiming my eldest daughter as "equivalent to
married".  I was re-married in May of 2004.  My husband is not a resident of
Canada and does not live in my house, he lives in his house in U.S.A.  When
you step through the tax forms it looks like I'm not eligible to still claim
my daughter as "equivalent to married".   I've been told by an accountant
that I should claim as if we are separated as we can not legal live
together.  I don't feel comfortable with that.  What you wrote in your
paragraph on Marital Status when you re-marry makes sense.
Where could I find more information on this so I'm sure making this claim is
correct?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Regards,
PXXXXXXXX
=================
david ingram replies:
If you show yourself as married, you can still claim the equivalent to
married the first year but will lose it the next year.  If you are
separated, then you will continue to get it.  The definition of marriage and
living together differs from couple to couple.  Over the years, I have had
100 couples where the husband thought he was married and the wife thought
she was separated or vice versa.
Having just suffered through the slings and arrows of divorce court last
month, I have my own opinion at the moment.
However, there is no rocket science in my statement about claiming the
single or married exemption in the year you get newly married.
The instructions for line 305 of the return (found on page 32 of the 2004 T1
General Guide obtainable at the post office, tax office or on line at:
www.cra.gc.ca) states quite clearly that you can claim the exemption if you
met all of the following conditions at once:
*	you did not have a spouse or common-law partner or, if you did, you were
not living with, supporting, or being supported by that person;
*	you supported a dependant in 2004; and
*	you lived with the dependant (in most cases in Canada) in a home that you
maintained.  You cannot claim this amount for a person who was only visiting
you.
There is more explanation but those are the rules and you met all three
tests before you married your new husband.
On another note, your husband is entitled to file a joint return with you in
the USA AND claim your child on that joint return.  Your income is eligible
for a foreign tax credit.  Depending upon his income and your income. There
would likely be significant tax savings in the $3,000 to $5,000 US $$ range
for him.  You might as well get "something" out of this.
We would be happy to look after them by email, snail mail, courier or fax.
Answers to this and other similar  questions can be obtained free on Air
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