Carleton student Heather Gilberds won her four-year-long battle against the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on May 7 when the government agency offered to pay back the money it wrongly took from her bank account.
Gilberds said the CRA took the money due to an error made while filing her 2010 tax returns through H&R Block, Canada’s leading tax preparation firm. She failed to send a T2202A supporting document along with her tax return.
Gilberds checked her bank account one day and was shocked to see $11,000 missing.
“I didn’t realize they could take money from your personal bank account, especially not for a file that is still clearly unresolved,” she said. “They obliterated my savings despite my multiple attempts to submit the missing form.”
Gilberds, who just completed her third year of a PhD, received $45,000 in scholarship money. Full-time students are not required to pay taxes on this income, but a simple mistake made when filing her taxes has led to a lengthy battle with the CRA that has only recently been resolved.
The CRA has refunded Gilberds the $11,000 and an additional $6,000 worth of tax refunds from 2011 to 2013, adding up to a total of $17,000. She said the CRA withheld the money from her while the situation was being resolved.
Gilberds said she is glad the situation is finally resolved but said it was frustrating.
“I was dealing with intense frustration and stress as a result of the CRA continually contacting me and saying I owed them money throughout the four years,” she said. “They began saying they would send it to the collections department to garnish my wages even though I didn’t actually owe them anything.”
The CRA has a free tax filing service online. According to the CRA’s website, 65 per cent of all tax returns are now filed online. Regardless, many Canadians still choose to either file it themselves or go to a tax filing service like H&R Block to file their taxes.
H&R Block senior tax analyst Caroline Battista said the most important thing to avoid problems with the CRA is to contact a tax specialist as soon as the CRA notifies you that there is a problem with your tax return.
“If you don’t respond to that letter right away, and it’s so easy to do, then your next letter will say ‘you’ve disallowed your claim,’” Battista said, adding this is where real problems can begin.
Battista was not directly involved in Gilberds’ case and therefore cannot comment on it, but she did give some advice to students.
“Ultimately you are responsible for your tax returns no matter who does it,” she said. “Make sure you understand it.”
