2 minute read
COMMUNICATING ABOUT TAXES
Andréa Agnoloni
The CRA and Your Taxes
As I was thinking of what to write in the Winter issue of The Scrivener, I received a call on my cell phone from the “Canada Revenue Services.”
A recorded male voice with an authoritative and intimidating tone tells me I am under investigation and, if I do not contact them, I will be prosecuted with criminal charges and subject to arrest. I was instructed I had to press #1 and talk to an agent.
I was curious and pressed 1. I was redirected to a call centre, definitely offshore. A person with a foreign accent answered and continued with the script.
I always wanted to do this . . . I vented my deepest feelings, but I cannot repeat what I said!
It is a fact that scammers and fraudsters have been targeting Canadians by posing as Canada Revenue Agency employees, threatening citizens with legal action and possible arrest if they do not pay false non-existing debts.
The frauds are delivered in various ways—phone calls like the one I received, email where you are advised you have a tax refund and you need to select the link provided for further instructions, by mail, and text. If you go to those links you are redirected to fraudulent websites.
The main objective of the fraudsters is to obtain your personal information, social insurance number, bank account and credit card numbers, and passport information, and then extract money from your accounts. Do not click the links because that is how the scammers get access to your personal information.
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To avoid being the victim of those frauds, it is important to know how CRA communicates with the taxpayers. It is also important to know that you will never receive a phone call from CRA threatening that you are the subject of a criminal investigation and possible arrest. If you owe income taxes, you may receive a phone call from a tax collector, who may be aggressive to get you to pay the debt, but will never say you will be arrested if you do not pay.
Let’s review how CRA agents contact the taxpayers to obtain legitimate information. By Phone CRA may phone the taxpayers for reasons mainly associated with processing tax returns. During the calls, the agent will verify the identity of the taxpayer by asking for personal information such as full name, address, and social insurance number. When the identification is verified, they will ask questions about
