Oh boy. We got a tax reassessment in the mail yesterday. They've now decided that they aren't going to allow our charitable tax donations for 2006 either. They already did this to us last year for 2005. We had to pay over $8,000.00 in back taxes and interest penalties. Now we have to pay another $5500.00. WTF?
I'm sorry if it's a recognized, official, government sanctioned Charitable Organization. How can they suddenly say our donations are invalid? Also if they suddenly mail us a reassessment 3 years later telling us this.. why do we have to pay interest starting 3 years ago? Shouldn't they give us a little grace on that since it's THEM who are changing their mind. They approved the donation the first time around. It's THEM who are suddenly saying no way, so why not let the interest start from the day we're supposed to have it paid by? So not only are we out the donation, we have to pay on top of that what we think we should have paid in taxes if we hadn't used the donation. About $4,300.00 more in total.
Needless to say we don't have the money for this and it has to be paid by June 11th. No idea what we are going to do. We will probably have to go to the bank and borrow the funds. The government will not allow any sort of payment plan without us proving how poor we are etc. The last time this happened we had a settlement come from Hubby's lawsuit against his previous employer so we had the money. We've been holding on to the fact that we may get it back. The charity is suing the government but that's gonna take time. Time we don't have. We can't just not pay it because if they are unsuccessful, the interest fees will be even higher. AND they will stop paying any tax benefits we get like child tax credit and gst etc.
The other bad news is that hubby is really pushing the move and rent idea because his store isn't doing that well right now because of a small drop in sales and a big increase in his lease. If we lived closer he could work more hours or different hours and thus relieve some of the pressure. However, my business is not resolved at the moment, we're getting there, but it's gonna take time. And with me not getting paid, money is getting tighter and tighter and tighter. Shazbut!
Sooo while I know it's not something anyone can help with... it does help to lay it all out. Let's face it. It's not exactly something you are going to be sharing with the other moms standing around the playground. No, only good friend will see us through this.
I'm guessing the next several weeks are going to be tough.
I am so sorry you're going through this! We recently got a letter from the IRS saying we owe $3000 from a "mistake" we supposedly made on our 2005 taxes. We used Turbo Tax and even had 2 other people check over it to make sure there were no mistakes so something seems suspicious.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that they shouldn't be charging you interest starting 3 years ago...you didn't even realize there was a problem until they got in touch with you!!!
My husband found a legal service that works for free in helping people deal with the IRS. Ours is here in CA. There should be one in your area too.
Thanks Helene. Ouch! That must be tough after all you've gone through financially.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if we have that in Canada but it's certainly worth checking out!!
There really should be some kind of limit to how long they can come back after you, unless, of course you're being fradulent.
This blows! I'm so sorry you're going through ALL of this! What a mess! :-( I hope something resolves itself without you having to shell out a gazillion dollars!
ReplyDeleteYikes, that sounds like a massive headache. Good luck with all of it, hope it spins around back in your favor one of these freaking years.
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