DaveLovesDee

The wife just got off the phone with the CRA again.

Apparently her GST cheque have and are going to continue to to go to repay an alledged overpayment of GST.

Oct 2006, I moved to Canada. Earned nothing for the rest of the Canadian tax year. Was told I would not need to file anything for 2006 tax year.

We got married June 2007. Notified CRA and we both had to fill in tax returns for 2007 at end of tax year.

July 2008, wife receives letter from CRA saying they have overpaid GST for last 12 months as they haven't received details of my 2006 income. Sent them the info they request (details of my worldwide income from Jan to Dec 2006)

Jan 2009, wife told by CRA that wife not entitled to GST as my income from 2006 is included in her income total, and that if we'd got married after July GST cheques had been issued it wouldn't have been counted. Also told that wife is very lucky they aren't going to re-assess her tax rebate for 2007 to take into account my 2006 UK income on which I'd paid UK tax and N.I.


Money-grabbing morons.

Tracie107

No different to the UK HMRC then? Don't get me started!

debbiem

I like the way they keep your money until the end of feb the following year if you have the temerity to buy and sell a house... still, not long to go now, eh?

BristolUK

Count yourself lucky you don't have kids. Assuming you don't.

Similar thing with us. Can't recall all the details now, but my final income in the UK (where it was just me) overlapped with part of the tax year for my wife when we got married and I moved to Canada. She declared it and they confirmed there was no additional tax liability. At this point I was not a permanent resident. They didn't ask me to do a tax return, they just wanted my statement of income to go with her form.

Much the same happened the next tax year except I now had zero UK income to put in my statement. Still no PR due to the cock ups at CIC. Again CRA confirmed no tax liability (income not high enough).

But then someone decided to suspend child tax benefits because they had no 'return' from me - even though twice they said a statement was sufficient. They also decided there had officially been an overpayment of CTB and a letter was issued wanting a refund.

Phone calls made, letters written, given everything they wanted etc etc. They agree they should not have suspended the CTB...but that as it had been stopped, they have to complete the investigation before reinstating it.

They apologise and say it's going to take months and months. Losing $500+ a month income was a big deal.

So for two tax years they have enough to confirm no tax due which in turn means maximum CTB is due as income isn't high enough to pay tax let alone affect CTB and they still stop the CTB. So now I have to apply for a SIN, get refused a SIN because I'm not PR, get given a temporary SIN so I can do a tax return.

Luckily for us the suspension was actually lifted. Common sense had applied...after all they did actually have the information from day one and they had confirmed income low enough not to pay income tax and to be entitled to CTB.

But then they suspended again and we were without the $500+ a month again.

Eventually it was sorted and we got the Federal part back.....but it was another 2 or 3 months before we got the Provincial part back.

I'm not done yet...........

We then got letters telling us the GST/HST refunds were not due and that had been overpaid. Clearly whatever had prompted the CTB part of CRA to need to confirm CTB was, in fact due, was now prompting the GST/HST part of the same CRA to cast the same sort of doubt.

Now, as a former civil servant I understand info held by one department may not be held by another. However we'd try to find it if it was suggested a colleague had it (even if that colleague was at the other end of the country). But the letters we got from the GST/HST people and where we had to send the information were in the same bloody building as the others we had contact with.

The joint tax returns, all the statements were all in the same building. The records about the first investigation and the satisfactory conclusion of that investigation were all in the same bloody building. So why couldn't they simply look at it and clear matters up swiftly?

All the files are cross referenced...access my wife's records and mine are cross referenced and vice versa. Yet they couldn't....or wouldn't do it.

So we had to duplicate the information already provided to the same damned building and send it all off again.

So we were without $500+ a month for 3 or 4 months and then without it again for another 3 or 4 months....got part of it back....then the rest....only to lose GST/HST refunds while they duplicated the same investigation as done by someone down the hall or upstairs.

2 or 3 quarterly refunds didn't come, cancelling the so called overpayment. Eventually the rebates were reinstated but we never did get them back for the missing period. That was nearly a year ago.


There are other BE posters this happened to around the same time.

DaveLovesDee

We have two kids, both 18 or over so the CTC isn't payable any longer.

I know that the UK HM Customs and Revenue computer is linked to the Working and Child Tax Credit computers because when I filled in my P85 the WTC/CTC sent me a letter claiming I owed them over £4000 from 2004/5. They still haven't sorted it out nearly 2 yrs later, after countless letters and phone calls.

woodmanbg

God we had problems with them last year when they said we hadnt paid and started charging us interest on a monthly basis. Even though we had proof we had paid, i.e. our cheque stamped at their end, it still took a few more months to settle things. In the end we didnt even get a letter of apology for the time and effort we put in to try and get this sorted out just a statement saying we didnt owe anything.

We have just received an electronic password for our 2008 return and hope that that will prove to be more efficient at recording our payment, or not, I am sure there are lots on this site that will say it doesnt matter how you pay they still manage to lose your money!!!

BristolUK

Ah well, that'll be because the government gave them responsibility for something that was better left with the department that was used to handling it. They still haven't recovered from the shock.

benjamin78

They just want to make your life a living hell:curse:

Ben

DaveLovesDee

I thought that was what MIL's were for?

Auld Yin

Says Jock, "my mother-in-law's an angel".
Says Hamish "you're lucky, mine's still alive.

BritBob

......and whatever you do, don`t move too many times as that confuses them. They are bloody awful at times.

We moved in early February, called them and told them our new address. Requested that tax returns and benefits be sent there with immediate effect.

Well it was too late for the Feb 20 CCTB payment and it went to the old address. We called and told we never got it because of this, but I was told to wait 5 working days before calling, even though the fellow knew we wouldn`t be seeing it!!

5 days later we called, they would issue a replacement cheque that would be with us in five days. Five days passed and nothing so we called again. The cheque hadn`t even been issued as they only send replacements at certain times of the week/month, so we had to wait a while longer. In the end our replacement arrived on March 16th, lol another 4 days and our March 20th payment will be here!

But wait, now our March 20th hasn`t arrived at the new place. Just got off the phone, they said the March 20th was sent to the old address, even though the system was fully updated with our new address. Heck, we`re getting all our tax returns sent here!

Now we have to go through the wait 5 days before calling, ask for a replacement cheque even though they know we haven`t got the payment. Probably wait another few weeks.

Apparantly an agent we spoke with back in February forgot to update something in the system, so because of someones mistake we pay! Got no apology of course. Amazes me how tax returns and bills from there have found the new address, but our CCTB payment has not!

We have direct deposit setup for future payments.

Ps. Yes, we have definately been through the CTTB "you owe us" dilemna, when I filed my first returns a few months later we started getting bills from them saying we owe them several thousands in past CTTB payments Took nearly a year to get it sorted out.

Nicola N-A

I've only recently sent off the paperwork to claim for the universal child benefit and the income related benefit. The CRA instigated a GST/HST refund application - but have been arsing about since last June with various dopey requests. We have supplied the same information at least 3 times - still have had to resend it again!! :curse:


Oh and they conveniently forgot the year previous to that in their calculations, so have had to re-file for that too.

I guess from the previous threads that I shouldn't hold my breath waiting for anything to be sorted anytime soon. Perhaps it'll come through in time to pay for a party for my youngest's 18th birthday (he's 2 now)