Revenue Canada Admits Its Letters and Notices are Confusing – So It Is NOT “ALL YOUR FAULT”

The well known site ca.finance.yahoo.com has just published a well-written article.  The full link is: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/revenue-canadas-letters-full-gobbledegook-090000176.html.

Did Canada Revenue Agency really need to hire a consulting firm (from the USA no less) to tell them the obvious?  Of course not, but a rant over wasted taxpayer funds and inept management of critical government departments will not help you.

According to the article, CRA has admitted that their letters are confusing and difficult for many to understand: “A study of the agency last month confirms the millions of communications that bureaucrats send to taxpayers each year are poorly organized, confusing, unprofessional, unduly severe, bureaucratic, one-sided and just plain dense.”

Does this sound familiar? Here is what will help you:

Tax Solutions Canada focuses entirely on disputes and resolutions with CRA.  Our professional team deliberately includes ex-CRA senior talent who now work on your side of the table.  They know where to look in the documents and how to get CRA to give clear and unambiguous answers.

It is abundantly clear to us that many of the taxpayers who have been sent to us by their accountants and lawyers got into the problem because they did not know what to do.  Scary as it sounds, some of these accountants and lawyers were confused by the documents they had received from CRA.  We hear stories like: “but look, the Notice/Letter/Statement did not say I owe money or needed to make installments”.  Well it did say so, just not in a way that a taxpayer would understand. 

It is our view that with this documented admission by CRA a taxpayer who now owes significant interest and penalties because they did not understand a Notice/Letter/Statement that was badly worded and laid out in a confusing way has clear grounds to apply for relief from interest and penalties.

If you owe interest and penalties feel welcome to call and speak with one of our professionals – we want to hear your story and work for your fair treatment.

Time to make CRA accountable for bad work and not the taxpayer.