As an entrepreneur you know how to successfully run your Canadian small business. CRA can disrupt your business operations with aggressive strong-arm collection tactics. A tax auditor can wrongly assess income tax or GST/HST owing. Never speak to CRA by yourself. As soon as your are contacted by CRA you should reach out to one of our Canadian tax litigation lawyers. We will fight CRA on your behalf so that you can concentrate on what you do best - running your business with no distractions.
Taxpayers are often overwhelmed by a tax assessment or a Tax Statement of Account that shows a balance owing that is impossible to pay. One common reaction is to ignore it since you can’t afford to pay.
Income Tax Debt
A CRA tax debt has to be addressed immediately. If it is ignored a CRA collections officer will commence tax enforcement actions. This means your bank account will be seized, your wages or accounts receivable or rents will be garnished, and your house may have a lien registered.
Dealing with the CRA tax collection officer yourself is usually a mistake. Collection officers are very aggressive and will come to your home or office with one purpose – collect as much as possible as quickly as possible. They have many collection powers, but may mislead taxpayers as to your rights are.
You need to retain a professional as soon as CRA notifies you of a tax debt. We have been solving tax debt problems since 1987. We may be able to challenge the tax assessment by filing a Notice of Objection. If you owe the full tax debt we may be able to reduce penalties and interest by filing a Taxpayer Relief (Fairness) Application. We are usually able to negotiate affordable payment arrangements with the tax collections officer in order to avoid enforcement actions such as bank account seizure or wage garnishments.
If the amount is too large to ever pay off we will direct you to a bankruptcy trustee who will either make a consumer proposal or submit a bankruptcy application to fully eliminate the taxes owing. Read more
Contact our Ontario tax litigation lawyers for help with your income tax problems or unpaid tax debt.