Do You Have A Complaint About The Canada Revenue Agency?
If the answer is 'YES", there is a form for that & and address to send the complaint. On September 21, 2011, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) released RC4420 Information on CRA - Service Complaints Includes form RC-193, Service-Related Complaints. Form RC-193 can also be found separately.
I know you are skeptical that filing a complaint will resolve the differences you have with the CRA. That being said, the CRA has a process for submitting complaints about their service, you can use it. At the very least, you may feel better by completing the form - even if you never submit it. The writing and venting process may help you see both sides of the issue.
The complaints process relates to quality of service. The CRA takes the position that it provides a service to taxpayers. Put aside the argument that you do not want their audit services. Try to look at the issue from the CRA's perspective (even if that is difficult on the one hand and goes against your logical brain on the other). They are providing services. The Minister issued a Taxpayers' Bill of Rights and needs to know if the CRA is living up to the standards that they set for the services they deliver to the public.
"Service" refers to the quality and timeliness of the work performed by the CRA. The bases for a complaint include, but are not limited to:
•undue delays;
•poor or misleading information;
•staff behaviour; or
•mistakes, which could result from misunderstandings, omissions or oversights.
These service elements may be considered in the context of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
If you decide to fill out Form RC-193 (fillable version), you may send it to the Complaints office at
CRA - Service Complaints
National Intake Centre
PO Box 8000
Shawinigan-Sud QC G9N 0A6
CANADA
Fax: 1-866-388-7371 (within Canada or United States)
Fax: 819-536-0701(outside Canada or United States)
After you write your complaint, put it in a drawer for 24-48 hours before running off to the fax machine or post office. You may wish to rewrite parts of the narrative portion before submitting the complaint. You certainly do not want to make matters worse for yourself. if you have been treated unfairly, you may wish to ask legal counsel for assistance as it may be prudent to use the complaints process to preserve legal rights.
Cyndee Todgham Cherniak is the founding lawyer of LexSage, a boutique international trade law and sales tax firm in Toronto,
I am a senior (73 in Nov. 7, 2012) I am still working out of neccessity, and fortunate to still have good helath. In 1987 my wife separated from me, leaving me to raise my daughter myself. (I was 47, unemployed, renting, and found work at a variety of places, to be able to give my daughter and myself a home to live in, most importantly to provide a secure home environment for her to grow up in. I worked in gas stations, warehouses, drove school buses,limousines, eventually obtaining my class two drivers license with air ticket and now work for a transit company.(which I am extremely greatful for) My daughter eventually graduated from school and has gone on with her life, becoming a responsible citizen and good human being which I am very proud of. Along the way I have been in a couple of car accidents (not my fault) but which have left me with some short term memory loss. (Which brings me up to my problem) some where along the way I have made a mistake which has caused the revenue of Canada to come after me for money owed them. I am not sure what for...I think it may be for E.I. reporting (but I'm not exactly sure) I was told that they apparently have sent me letters telling me I owe them this money...I recently spoke with a collections officer explaining to him/her that I had this short term memory problem and can not understand why I owe them so much money ($2,652.71 apparently)I asked him if they could please send me some documentation regarding this detailing exactly what and why I owe them this money and and if I can actually see and understand why it is that i do owe them this money i will arrange to make payments to them to settle this debt.Needless to say that it has been causing me some stress (that I do not need due to a variety of reasons, as I already have stress for other reasons) He replied that he would send me this documentation asap. I received a letter this morning from them which to my shock did not explain anything to me, or show why I owed them this money, but, instead,the letter was more of a threat rather then explaining to me why I owed them this money, basically stated again that I owed them this money, who and where to send it to, and stated that they had made numerous attemts to to recover this balance without success. Therefore unless you (me) (the wording was as follows) send a payment in full within 10 business days from the date of this letter, the CRA may garnish your bank account, your current source of income, and all amounts owed to you.
Needless to say, I was shocked to receive such a threatening letter, rather than documentation explaining what and why I owed them this money. I still rent, do not have any RRSP's, own no property and have no investments of any kind, and basically live from paycheck to paycheck, (I do have a small savings account less than what they say I owe them)
The sender of this letter was from one Z BHALOO, Collections Contact Officer (I had tried to contact the lady who I first spoke to (a Mrs. SohBee, I believe)
Are these people able to just threaten a citizen this way without explaining (as he said that he would send me a letter detailing why I owed this money)
I tried looking back through what documentation I had to see how I could owe them this money without success...it may have been a miscaluation on my part in reporting my earnings ( while working for a limousine company I remember that I had to sometimes guess-timate my earnings for the day/week while on E.I. but I do not know for sure, but if so I cannot see how I could owe them so much...but I only wanted to have this shown to me so that I knew for sure and then could arrange to pay this, but, instead, they sent me this threatening letter.
CAN THEY DO THIS. INTIMINATE A CITIZEN THIS WAY? It seems to me that I remember reading some where years ago that it was against the law to harrass or do things of this nature that could cause undue hardship and/or stress to a human being. If anyone can explain this to me, or give me some direction I would certainly appreciate it...
J. Seaman