September 29, 2009 by Dan White.

 This is such a crock!

I know one person who had a neighborhood visit from CRA… he got a little too nervous when they asked him pointed questions. He got audited, could not afford the tax bill and went bankrupt.

To have CRA drop in for a visit is like having a fox visit your rabbit pen.

To me, this announced visit, is just another tactic for their own revenue generating agenda. That is their job.

I wish they would stop with the pretenses about how they have so much integrity campaigne. I guess if they say it enought they will believe it themselves.

I know their job is to get as much loot as they can and I understand that. I would just prefer they be straight with us.

As they say in the lastest slogan “They’ve got what they need to get what you got.”

Dan White

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Canada Revenue Agency Propaganda for your enjoyment.

Canada Revenue Agency
Sep 29, 2009 16:53 ET
Canada Revenue Agency Officials to Visit Downtown Toronto Businesses to Promote Services

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire - Sept. 29, 2009) - The Minister of National Revenue, the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, invites businesses to learn more about government tax services. On September 30, 2009, representatives from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will be talking to businesses along Toronto’s College Street, from Spadina Avenue to Dovercourt Avenue, as part of the CRA’s Community Visit Program.

CRA officers conduct community visits as part of the Agency’s outreach program. The purpose of these visits is to provide businesses with the latest information and answer their questions. The visit is not considered to be a form of enforcement action or investigation. It is an opportunity for businesses to ask questions, learn more about CRA services, and discuss any tax-related issues or concerns.

“Community visits enable entrepreneurs to ask tax-related questions about their companies and validate information directly with CRA staff,” says Jean-Pierre Blackburn.

Significant portions of the visit will also be dedicated to discuss CRA’s Underground Economy Initiatives. The CRA is committed to ensuring its audit, collection, and enforcement activities effectively detect and deter underground economy activity because for legitimate businesses, underground operators provide unfair competition.

The CRA is committed to ensuring that the public can trust the integrity and equity of the tax system. Agency officials promote voluntary compliance with the law by providing information and services, informing Canadians of the risks associated with the underground economy, and taking appropriate measures against those who do not pay their fair share of taxes.

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September 29, 2009 by Dan White.

A BC couple, victims of indenty theft, have to pay back the Income tax credits that were issued to the thief who stole their identity.

Now that is a tax problem to say the least, a tax problem without a solution.

It really seems that CRA has no conscience. The fairness provisions are pretty much a joke.

Dan White

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B.C. identity theft victims say they can’t get justice
Man says he can prove who stole from him, but police still can’t act
Last Updated: Monday, September 28, 2009 | 5:35 PM PT Comments159Recommend116
By Kathy Tomlinson CBC News
Mark Gorst and Shannon Werry believe they know who stole their identities, but are having difficulty getting authorities to act.Mark Gorst and Shannon Werry believe they know who stole their identities, but are having difficulty getting authorities to act. (CBC)

Two B.C. people who are victims of identity theft are speaking out in frustration with the justice system.

Mark Gorst and Shannon Werry have ample evidence indicating who the thief is, but even so, RCMP have told them charges won’t be laid.

“It’s frustrating … and there is a lot of anger,” said Werry. “Because you know who it is — and you have the proof that you need — and nothing happens.”

“I didn’t know most of the money was stolen — until two years afterward,” said Gorst. “We’ve been told — because it’s been such a time delay — the statute of limitations on certain crimes means I am on the hook for everything.”

“[Identity theft and fraud] is a level of crime that you don’t know about until you know about it — which is sometimes too late for legal boundaries,” explained Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop of the Chilliwack RCMP.

If more than a year has passed since the initial crime, she said, the bar to get charges approved by the Crown is higher.
Too late for charges: RCMP

“We have to play within the confines of the legal system that exists,” she said. “It is sometimes unlikely a long time after an offence that a charge will be approved.”

Gorst said collection agents call him several times a day, about two-year-old charges on several credit cards. He firmly believes an ex-roommate obtained those cards in his name, then collected the bills at his old address.

“I owe $20,000 on credit cards I never applied for and never used,” said Gorst. “I have no credit. I have nothing in my name. I can’t own anything, because it could be seized by creditors.”

Werry says it’s far too late for the credit card companies to forgive the debt. “There’s a time limit. Most credit cards, you have to report it within so many hours or so many days.”

The couple first noticed something was wrong in 2007, when hundreds of dollars were siphoned out of his RBC account electronically. Gorst said he had never set up online banking.

Once he was able to log on, he discovered someone had listed his roommate as a bill payee — and then transferred money into their account at another bank.

He filed his first report with the RCMP at that time. Gorst said he was told it was a matter for his bank to handle.
Gorst shows CBC his forged signature on one document (top), and his real signature on another (bottom).Gorst shows CBC his forged signature on one document (top), and his real signature on another (bottom). (CBC)

When he later noticed he was not receiving GST rebates, Gorst contacted the Canada Revenue Agency. The CRA eventually sent him a letter it had received, signed with his forged signature, asking that all tax credits and refunds be paid into a TD Canada Trust account that was not his. His former roommate’s return address is listed on that letter.

After his bank called to say his ex-roommate had tried to cash a large cheque by forging his signature, he called the person to confront them — and recorded the conversation.
Forgery admitted on tape

“Please stop forging my signatures? Please, I am just asking nicely,” said Gorst on the tape. “You didn’t need to forge my signature.”

The ex-roommate responded, “How did you expect [a cheque] to be cashed?”

The conversation ended with the person saying, “You are going to wish you never met me,” before hanging up on Gorst.

After he discovered the credit cards he didn’t know about this year, he went back to the RCMP, armed with a pile of new evidence, including the tape recording. Gorst said he was told the financial crimes were too old to pursue. He was advised to hire a lawyer and take civil action, which he said he can’t afford.

‘I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.’—Identity theft victim Mark Gorst

“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I really wouldn’t,” said Gorst. “I made the mistake of leaving my ID and my mail on a bedroom counter or kitchen counter where anyone could have grabbed it — and someone did,” he said.

The RCMP said it did try to pursue charges, related to threats, but Crown counsel did not approve those charges.

“Someone who I trusted did this to me. I don’t trust very many people anymore,” Gorst added.
RCMP Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop says police need an updated law to address identity theft.RCMP Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop says police need an updated law to address identity theft. (CBC)

RCMP Cpl. Dunlop said it is “common” for police to be unable to make charges stick in identity theft cases. The crimes are intricate and often hidden for long periods, with the help of technology, she said, so the laws need updating.

“Until we have some legislation around some things that give us the tools that we need as the police to investigate some of these crimes, it is going to be a challenge,” said Dunlop.
New law promised but not delivered

Identity theft and fraud are not listed as specific crimes in the Criminal Code, putting Canada behind the U.S. and Europe.

“We have such lax laws regarding this,” said Gorst.

For several years, the Harper government has been promising new legislation, which would make it a crime to obtain or possess someone else’s identity information for fraudulent purposes. That legislation has been halted twice, when federal elections were called.

“Especially if you know who the person is that is committing the crimes, that makes it even worse,” said Werry.

The couple said they live in fear that new bills will continue to surface.

“We’re always concerned about what’s next. What’s going to happen next? What can we do? Who do we have to contact? Who do we have to fight with now?” said Werry.

Gorst said he’s hit several brick walls, trying to get information from creditors. When they ask him to verify his identity, he said, he often doesn’t know the phone number or other information they have on file.
The Chilliwack, B.C., RCMP office where Gorst and Werry took their evidence of identity theft.The Chilliwack, B.C., RCMP office where Gorst and Werry took their evidence of identity theft. (CBC)

“If I don’t give them the proper information they don’t tell me anything — because of privacy,” he said. “So, I could have more cards out there I don’t know about.”
Victim expected to pay in full

Gorst drives a transport truck and his wife is a civil servant. They said they have delayed having a family because of the constant financial stress they are under. Gorst said he has paid $5,000 toward the debts, but owes at least another $15,000.

“We basically live paycheque to paycheque,” said Werry. “So, $15,000 is a lot. A thousand dollars — five hundred dollars — is a lot to us.”

To add insult to injury, Gorst said, he’s also paid a higher price for reporting the crimes. The CRA made him pay back some of the tax credits paid out in his name, which he said wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t written to them.

Collection agents didn’t start chasing him, he said, until he contacted TransUnion Canada, to check his credit rating. He gave his real address and phone number, he said, and the credit agency passed that information on to collectors.

“The way our society is now, you are just a number,” he said. “And according to all the computers, I am a bad person.”

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September 29, 2009 by Dan White.

Canadians are under an ever increasing attack by CRA. In this case, I am kind of on their side. Not liking CRA does not mean that I approve of tax evasion.

The tax problems in this country are not because of tax evasion, rather tax evasion is a result of tax problems created by our government administering a tax that is known to be unfair by the vast majority of over taxed Canadians.

The solution to situtations like this is; “Don’t hide your business from the Tax Man. Instead protect your deductions from unfair assult my the audit man.” Make sure you understand “Audit Ready Bookkeeping.”

For more information on this subject, go to

http://www.tax-audit-solutions.com/services.htm

And don’t think the threshold for the amount of transaction in eBay won’t be reduced. It will! Then there will be a whole new arount of tax assults by CRA in round number two.

Dan White

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eBay Canada to Hand over More Seller Tax Records to Government
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
September 29, 2009
Reading AuctionBytes: eBay Canada to Hand over More Seller Tax Records to Government

eBay Canada said it would hand over more data to Canada’s tax agency after receiving a court-authorized requirement from the Canada Revenue Agency. The company will release the account information and sales data of Canadian resident eBay members who meet the following criteria:

* Sales of more than $20,000 and at least 24 sales transactions in any of the calendar years 2006, 2007 or 2008, (irrespective of membership in eBay’s PowerSeller program);
* or, Sales of more than $100,000 in any of the calendar years 2006, 2007 or 2008, regardless of the number of sales transactions.

eBay said it was only required to release sales information for the year(s) in which a seller met the above sales thresholds.

The member information that will be released for 2006, 2007 and/or 2008 includes: full name, user id, mailing address, billing address, telephone number, fax number, email address, and the selling prices (high bids) of the items.

The September 2009 request followed a similar request made by the Canada Revenue Agency; in November 2008, after a lengthy legal battle, eBay was required to reveal the account information of members who held PowerSeller status in 2004 and 2005.

eBay Canada said it strenuously objected to the “violation of our members’ privacy,” but said it was obliged to comply with the court-ordered requests. eBay said it was alerting all members affected by the court order prior to disclosing their account information to the Canada Revenue Agency.

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