Got Canada Revenue Agency issues?
Arm yourself with patience
Back in 2020, the Canadian Revenue Agency admitted that its security system had been breached mid-August by hackers. They said that about 5,600 accounts were affected, although it was likely a lot more. This admission came because the media had gotten wind of it.
It has happened again since then, to our son. He never received a call, letter or email to advise him of the attempted hack, just left to his own devices to figure it out.
The first hint that something was wrong was when he never received his Notice of Assessment for the 2021 tax year. He called a couple of times but received no assistance so quit calling, having better things to do than to waste his time on hold.
The next year a similar thing happened. No Notice of Assessment for the 2022 tax year and various benefits payable from the federal and provincial governments stopped being deposited. He called a few more times and was met with equal frustration every time. Again, spending an hour or more on hold listening to the awful noise they call music got the better of him. No one knew what had happened, nor could they help.
By November, 2022 a concerted effort was made by both of us to break through the barrier erected around the CRA. We both spent too many hours on hold and then being told that they couldn’t help, that he needed a “special” agent or to be disconnected.
A random call early December resulted in an agent who decided to help. She would talk to him, put him on hold then come back and talk some more…. for well over an hour. Eventually she returned with an address and phone number in Sudbury: the Special Investigations Unit. He was instructed to write a letter detailing all that had happened and mail it there along with his personal information, which we did.
By the end of January 2023 there was no word from Sudbury so he called the number. Luck was on his side. He reached a “special” agent who had his “incomplete” letter on her desk. No one had told him he had to attach a front and back copy of his driver’s licence!
After a game of 40 questions to prove he was who he claimed to be, his letter/file was added to her active cases pile.
She mentioned a name and asked if he knew this person (she couldn’t pronounce the surname). No, never heard of him. Apparently this person attempted to change all of my son’s contact information (address, phone, email, etc.) on his account and claimed to be his accountant. The CRA became suspicious and closed his account. Why not tell us?
A week before they went on strike this past May, my son called the agent in Sudbury to see where his file stood. “Be patient!” he was told! She had investigated it, forwarded the matter and was waiting a reply. We were getting somewhere!
Last month, mail started arriving from the CRA and various programs, both Federal and Provincial. The 2020, 2021 and 2022 assessments, HST credits, Trillium benefits and on and on. Everything now appears to be caught up and, as he says, he is no longer dead to the government. They had his life on hold for almost three years and it was up to us to find out about it and be tenacious enough to not give up. That is not right.
In July, a friend heard the news and asked if I would help him with his CRA problem. Sure, I replied. I love smashing my head against a brick wall! His case is almost the same as our sons but with one life-changing detail. Because he has no Notices of Assessment issued for three years, his Trillium Drug Benefit coverage was cancelled a year ago. Being on a restricted income and having severe arthritis among other things, he lost his TDM coverage as they could not confirm his income. For a few months he tried to pay his medications himself with aid from the manufacturer but it became too much so he was off his meds in January and was now in constant pain. A letter was sent directly to the special agent in Sudbury, along with a copy of his driver’s license explaining his details and pointing out that he can not be patient any longer. Nice to know that at least one CRA employee deserved her raise!
Angela Dorie is an agricultural writer and a Jersey farmer near Cornwall.
