Identification

Entering this Amount (from Forms):

Entering identification information in the T1 General

When you open the T1 General in Forms mode, the Identification topic is the first to appear.

To see more information about completing your T1 General, click the Contents tab of the help. Here, you can see the information broken out into federal and provincial guides. To find other forms, guides, or slip information, click either the Search or the Index tabs.

  1. Enter or change your personal information, including name, birth date, SIN, and marital status, in the Personal information window.

    If you are preparing a return with your spouse or common-law partner at the same time (a coupled return), check the checkbox for Process spouse's return as well? and enter his or her personal information here.

    If your marital status changed in 2023, enter the day and month of the change in the Personal Information window. If your marital status changed more than once in 2023, enter the most recent change in the Personal information window, and also see Changes in marital status - enter using forms.

  2. Enter or change your address directly on the T1 General form in the spaces provided.

    If your address information has changed from what the CRA has on file from last year, you must notify them of any changes before you file your return with NETFILE.

  3. If you have a spouse or common-law partner but you are not preparing a coupled return, enter his or her net income directly on page one of your T1 General form.

    For details, see entering spouse's net income.

  4. Self-employment checkbox for spouse - If you have a self-employed spouse or common-law partner but you are not preparing a coupled return, tick the box directly on page one of the T1 General form.

    If you are completing a coupled return, this box is automatically checked when you enter your spouse's self-employment income on their business form.

If you are not preparing your spouse or common-law partner's return together with your own, complete the "Information about your spouse or common-law partner" area of the Identification section.
Note: To open the Personal information window after you create your return, ensure that you are in Forms view. Open the Forms menu and type Personal Information.

Entering this Amount (from Interview):

Entering your personal information (interview)

Enter or modify personal information in the Personal Information screens in the Introduction section of the interview.

  1. Click INTRODUCTION in the left-side menu.
  2. From the Intro tab, select Personal Information. Enter the First name, Birth date, and SIN, then click Continue.
  3. About the fields:
    1. First and last names, date of birth, social insurance number (SIN) are mandatory fields

      Enter date of birth in the format DD/MM/YYYY (e.g. enter October 12, 1966 as 12/10/1966). Be careful to enter your correct date of birth because some tax calculations depend on your age.

      Be sure your SIN is correct before you electonically file or print your return. TurboTax cannot determine if the SIN you have entered is actually yours, only that it is valid.

    2. Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss is optional except for Québec residents, where it is mandatory.

If the taxpayer died in the tax year, see Preparing a deceased person's return.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why create a coupled return with my spouse or common-law partner?

Why should I prepare a coupled return?

It saves data entry effort, with shared information being transferred between taxpayers (for example, address, dependant's personal information, spouse's net income, joint investment information, etc.). Then the software maximizes credits available for both of you (including education, age, medical, charitable, child care, pension amounts, dependant credits, CCB, GST/HST credit, etc.) and determines if there are unused credits on either return. These are transferred from one of you to the other to achieve the best net benefit to you both.

Also, when you prepare spouse's returns separately, there is a danger of claiming the same credit or expense on both returns. This can result in the CRA adjusting one or both returns and assessing a penalty based on the adjustment.

Can I merge two existing returns into one coupled return?

Can I merge two existing returns into one coupled return?

No. Once you have selected to prepare your returns separately, you cannot merge them. However, if you haven't reached the payment stage, you can use navigate back to Return Manager to create a new coupled return.

Related concepts
Personal Information Worksheet
Related tasks
Spouse or common-law partner's net income
Uncouple a previously coupled return