Any sensible person would never want to suffer from tax debt that is uncontrollable and the best way to avoid paying of interest and penalty on your taxes are to pay them on time. There are however times when seeking Canadian taxpayer relief becomes out of control when an individual is forced to pay interest and penalties along with the accrued tax return amount.
Depending solely on these circumstances, the CRA allows relief for taxpayers. This relief allows waiving off any additional interest or penalty that adds up on the original tax amount. There are also ways through which the original tax amount can be paid in easy installments throughout the year. Under Canadian taxpayer relief provisions, the taxpayer is allowed a period of 10 years in which he or she can make a relief request provided that their situation comply with the allowed provisions under which Canadian taxpayer relief is granted.
It should be remembered that CRA very exhaustively and comprehensively confirms on whether a Canadian taxpayer reliefrequest complies with the stated situations of relief. There are certain situations that render a taxpayer as being eligible for CRA taxpayer relief. These situations include
– Extraordinary Circumstances
– Financial Hardship
– CRA’s Action
Extraordinary circumstances refer to situations that are beyond the control of a taxpayer, rather any individual. Any such occurrence that acts as a hindrance for a taxpayer towards payment of taxes such as a natural disaster, serious kind of illness, services disruptions of any kind such as a postal strike, etc can be waived of by the CRA.
Financial hardships also make an individual eligible for Canadian taxpayer relief provision, however CRA will to an extended limit confirm on the inability of a taxpayer to pay and only after confirmation will it waive off the excess interest and penalty on the tax amount. Not every financial inability is entertained in this regard whatsoever, except those that cause inability to provide even the very basic necessity of life such as food, clothing and shelter.
Another Canadian taxpayer relief provision that allows waiving off penalty and interest is due to the doing of the CRA itself. For example any interest or penalty that is imposed on a taxpayer which resulted due to a late processing by the CRA or delay in informing the taxpayer about the tax is also waived off by the CRA.
Other than the defined reasons there can be other circumstances in which the Canadian taxpayer relief can also levy however the provided reasoning should be truly justified. Also in order to consider the taxpayer relief request, the Canada Revenue Agency considers certain factors that contribute towards the decision of accepting or rejecting the request.
These factors include
– Tax compliance history
– Whether the existing arrears amount is knowingly allowed to exist
– If previous tax affairs were handled with a reasonable amount of care and
– The appropriateness of the taken actions.
Whatever the action may be, it is totally on the discretion of CRA to grant or refuse Canadian taxpayer relief request and it is in no way bound by the grant relief provision.
Summary
The CRA under the grant relief provision reserves the rights to waive off penalty and interest levied on taxpayers provided they qualify for it based on the specified rules. Taxpayers supported by the Canadian taxpayer relief program can prove their inability to pay and avail the provision for themselves.