Taxes Were Here Even Before Stew...
Ah the Government. Source and bane of my existence. My current beef is with the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. Last year, like a good little citizen, I filed my tax return. Well, the nice tax man actually filed it, but that is beside the point. Everything should be peachy keen, right? Oh no, nuh, na no! Months later I receive a notice in the mail telling me that I am being audited and that I must send in my receipts (curses upon e-filing). I do so. They send me a letter saying all is well. Except they lied! Just before Christmas I got another letter telling me that they reviewed my return again and that now I owe them about $200 and that if I don't pay it before December 27, interest will begin to accumulate. Again, like a good little citizen, I mail my cheque. Then, on Monday, I get a notice from our good friends at CCRA stating that since I have not paid the money I owe on my income tax, they are transferring my GST cheque to themselves. Well, I never! Upon further investigation, even though I mailed the cheque before Christmas, they did not bother to get around to processing it until January 5. So, despite the fact that they don't even have time to cash the cheque before their own deadline, I would still have had to pay interest?! Also turns out that the day they processed the cheque was the very same day that they decided to claim my GST money as their own. Bah. So, I try to contact CCRA using the convenient 1-800 number provided. The line is busy. For two days, I try and try to call. No answering machine. No automated service. No nothing. Only a busy signal. I try to be inventive. I go to the web site to try to find the number for the Ottawa regional office. It is not listed and the site specifically states that the regional office will not deal with my questions. What is the use of a local office if they can't help you with your tax problems?! I decide instead that I'll just send them an email. No. That won't work either. You can send them an email but not regarding tax questions, only to give them feedback about their web site. In a fit of rage, I send them an email telling them that I have been trying to contact them for days and that their phone line is always busy. To anger me further, they send me an automatically generated reply stating that they will not respond to my email but that I should be assured that someone will review my comments. It is now Day 5!!!! Still only the busy signal. Does CCRA only have one employee answering the phone? Is there just one lonely phone in an empty cube that they keep off the hook while they laugh about all the suckers who are trying to get in touch with them? And what about Service Canada? I thought the whole reason that Service Canada was formed was to incorporate all the areas of government that provide services to the public and make them accessible in one place!!! The only place I can get any service from CCRA for my question is in Shawinigan! (Btw, does that seem suspiciously like the work of Jean Chrétien?) I WANT MY MONEY BACK! And I will get it, even if i have to spend every penny of it going to Shawinigan to get it. Improved government services my arse. Hmmph.
Song of the Moment: Money (That's What I Want) by the Flying Lizards
posted by Dish @ 3:25 PM
2 Comments:
I got dinged the same way you did last year. Apparently I owed the government about $1200 which unbeknownst to me had been accumulating interest because they didn't discover this until after the period it should have been accumulating. Make sense? Ya, it didn't make much sense to me either. I tried appealing it but it was of no avail. There's approx. 2K I'll never see again...
That sucks big time. I guess I should stop whining about my $80. :o)
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