Posted in Personal Finance December 2, 2011
By Amanda Morrall

Tax tales from Amanda's file
It's been a while since I've written about taxes. If you're sick of
hearing about my rants skip to number two but book mark the links
first. If not, here's a little tax tale to amuse.

This morning I spent close to two hours on the phone with the Canada
Revenue Agency trying make sense of my messy tax situation which for a
year lay dormant because the International Tax Office lost my file. To
cut a long story short, I ended up having to resubmit all the
paperwork. At the time I originally submitted my tax file, I sent the
CRA a cheque via my accountant. Turns out they lost that too,
something I only became aware of this morning when I tried to clarify
the remaining amounts owing.

I’d been sent so many computer-generated notices from two different
departments that I'd lost the plot.

So too had they apparently.

The left hand clearly didn't know what the right was doing.

After phone calls with two separate divisions of the tax department, I
joyfully determined that because they’d failed to take account of my
original payment, I’d overpaid.

I had a few questions for them as I tried to untangle this long
distance disaster:

Q) Why can't I talk to one person?
A) Because it's a separate department.

Q) What happened to my money, why wasn't it applied to the amount you
said was owing before you sent me an invoice?
A) I can't answer that.

Q) When can I expect my refund?
A) You have to write us a letter explaining all of the above and
request a refund.

Q) Why can't you accept what I'm saying over the phone and process the
repayment, if it's true what you are telling me?
A) That would go against policy.

Q) Where has my money been sitting all this time?
A) In an account, somewhere.

Q) What would have happened to it had I not brought this matter to
your attention?
A) Nothing.

Q) Does none of this not strike you as very disorganised and
inefficient?
A) Good point. Hopefully it will be noted.

My hope is to turn the chapter on this tax story from hell before the
start of the New Year.

Here's my lessons learned:
 Don't assume the tax department knows what it's doing.
 Don't assume your accountant knows or cares what's going on either.
 Always take the initiative sooner, rather than later, if in doubt.
 Pay your taxes on time.
 Interest only ever works against you when it comes to the taxman.
This seems patently unfair.
 Sometimes there is a silver lining, even if you go slowly insane
trying to uncover it.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Miss a Tax Tale Miss a lot!
Pop the link below into your browser to view the entire CRA SOTW
Library!
http://canada.revenue.agency.angelfire.com
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Alan Baggett – Tax Collector’s Bible - http://taxcollectorsbible.com/

Dhu

VV

Dhu

--
Duncan Patton a Campbell is Dhu >>> Ne Obliviscaris

Now go over every police injustice that has occurred. Picktons's women
didn't work and pay taxes so killing them is a low priority threat not
worth the attention.  Ditto highway of tears or the hundreds of people
who disappear every year.

Isn't just a female thing either.  Take Robert Dziekansk, would the
outcome for the cops be the same if it was a MPs son?

Or why has the taxpayer with 27 empties and a bag of weed in a speed
boat who drove into a houseboat killing a retiree (CCP liability)
hospitalizing 8 others yet not charged with manslaughter?  In part as
RCMP incompetence didn't even ask for a blood test for a cover up.

Things add up if you realize police are here to protect government first
and foremost, and secondary is the revenue generating taxpayers and the
rest take their chances.

It is all about sucking as much from the citizens as possible.  Protest
Wall Street, 8 weeks go by.  Only when they talk of moving to government
do they intervene.

Can you imagine if you or I got $300,000 cash envelops for favours how
the CRA would tear us to shreds?  Yet insider Mulroney knows too much
and gets a bye like the Liberal Ad-scammers that never paid back the
$60M++ they owe.

Hey, it is all about managing and miking the herd.

So indirectly, CRA is involved, it is not about justice, it is about
revenue.  No one gave a shit about Pickton's victims as they didn't pay
taxes.  The "commission" is just an way of appearing to care for the PR
of it, but really, they don't plan on doing anything.  Commissions
produce nothing but bullshit.
--
All successful people have one thing in common, if even for a moment
they think rationally.