The Debt

Several months ago I received a letter from the Canada Revenue Agency informing me that they had done an assessment of my 2010 income tax return and demanded that I reimburse them $1,000.  The error was steeped in the fact that I had claimed $20,000.+ for rent.  It took me no time at all to realize how the mistake had been made.  Each time I had opened up my electronic tax file, the ON-BEN form, which I had previously filled out, was nowhere to be found; so I'd fill out another form.  This happened three times and came up to the exact amount that I had overly claimed on my income tax form.  I explained this to Revenue Canada several times.  I even wrote them a letter exclaiming how could I possibly have paid over $20,000. in rent in light of the fact that our entire yearly income was a little over that amount?  Common sense did not prevail!

In desperation I tried one more time to explain the situation to a CRA employee over the phone.  He suggested that I forward a copy of our lease to them.  I explained that we have no lease; that I live in a co-op, that it was near bankruptcy, that the Office Co-ordinator had been fired; that the maintenance man was no more, that the co-op was falling apart and that the place was really crooked.  He sighed, and with a certain sense of compassion in his voice, asked:  'Do, you live in Toronto?'  'No', I said rather adamantly;  'I live in Ottawa'.  'OH', he replied, 'TORONTO is r-e-a-l-l-y bad'. 

Well, to sum up my misadventure here in Our Town, I asked our office administrator for a letter confirming how much we had paid in housing charges.  Alas, the bookkeeper made a mistaken entry for one of the previous 12 months; fortunately, the office had a photocopy of our cheque. Things soon got cleared up with the Canada Revenue Agency - our indebtedness to them was quickly reduced to approximately $300., which amount I happily forfeited.

Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I've been wondering how the members in Toronto co-ops are doing.