Cic and taxes, will it effect my citizenship

[basharar]

Hello everyone, we where given a residency questionnaire by Cra to prove our presence in canada, they asked for doctor letters and visit records, letters from landlords, school records of attendance... We sent everything by the deadline (30days from the date of the letter), it took them 14 days to direct the letter to the right person and meanwhile action/penalty was taken....they removed our kids from the tax records and we started receiving crazy bills saying we owe them....it's a crazy and absurd situation, it has been over a month and they did not bother to respond yet. I am not worried at all because we have been here and have everything to prove it, but I am concerned if getting in trouble with the Cra will effect our citizenship application? I can't believe they can not just call immigration and verify our presence, I feel they are going after us/my wife mainly because we have not made enough money to pay a good sum of taxes...Cra Rq is so primitive and worst you are deemed guilty until proven innocent...Every time I call them the answer is...wait till the investigation is concluded and ignore the computer generated bills (I paid the first one by mistake!). I don't understand why this conservative government is waisting tax money chasing poor immigrants instead of creating jobs for them...really sick

 

[waitingforcic]

I had the same situation last year, they made me run around the city looking for every imaginable paper. I submitted them and they fixed the child tax benefit balance, but they made a "mistake" and didn't update the GST/HST balance and still today it appears that I have to pay them back. I just talked to them yesterday and they said that they will refund me all the payments I missed so far on October. As for this mess affecting the citizenship application, I hope it won't, but for now I can only pray.
Good luck!

 

[basharar]

Wow! so I am not the only dealing with this, they are claiming all the child benefits and gst returns for the past 4 years! I was running around like crazy trying to get the papers on time. I am willing to take them to tax court and fight till the end because they took action immediately despite the fact that my response was delivered on time with registered mail. I just hope that doesn't get in the way of our citizenship application...

 

[123sMike]

i think somebody complained about you so this investigation

 

[Travel Dream]

when i go abroad with my family i send a letter to child tax benefits that i will be a absent for a specific period. Did you did this . because if you did this it will not be any problem.

 

[123sMike]

if you maintain your residence and pay taxes for that year as a resident..it does not matter when you go for vacation or not ..does not effect this

 

[Travel Dream]

if you maintain your residence and pay taxes for that year as a resident..it does not matter when you go for vacation or not ..does not effect this

You are right and when i called them they told me what you wrote. But sometime it is useful to let them know so if anything happen you will be in safe side.

 

[basharar]

I really do not care as I have nothing to hide and did nothing wrong, I have been a legal resident with my family and filed our taxes on time, our longest vacation was for 12 days...imagine if cic gave you a Rq and took action against you on the spot...there call center says not to worry, it's computer generated bills, still it upsets me to be treated like an offender when I am not. I am also concerned if this drama will effect the citizenship application, if anyone has Useful and meaningful information please share it.

 

[waitingforcic]

I did nothing wrong either, they told me that they choose someone randomly and ask for proof of residence for a certain period of time, just to check that the person is here and their dependents are too. It is not personal, I know it is inconvenient and a real pain getting all those papers, but just do what they say and they will fix the mess they created.
Don't let them get into your nerves.

 

[123sMike]

they dont choose randomly that is for sure

 

[basharar]

@ Mike, are you an accountant, do you work for them?! you think that someone has told on me and its intentional?! can you please elaborate? the more i read on the net the more i am surprised with the horror stories that innocent people have to go through for no reason.

 

[123sMike]

no, i am not an accountant, but it happened with me too.. and what I realized is what I wrote on here..that is it.. and I also did not do anything wrong and we had all the proof..we sent all the proof and they fixed everything..

 

[Suin]

no, i am not an accountant, but it happened with me too.. and what I realized is what I wrote on here..that is it.. and I also did not do anything wrong and we had all the proof..we sent all the proof and they fixed everything..

the same here. the CRA asked us about proof. after we sent them what they asked for, they never asked us for anything else.

 

[basharar]

Ok, thank you for the useful advice, is it hard to say that from the beginning! how long did the issue last, what is your timeline.And why are you so sure that somebody told on us! I have no enemies! or at least that I know off, so far! It's been almost a two month now with no response, but all kinds of crazy bills... Guess they are still in the summer vacation mode

 

[Msafiri]

AFAIK it only affects if there is a fraud charge or if you become bankrupt