I am inquiring about what our legal options are regarding not being able to obtain tax documents from our

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Customer: Hello,
JA: Hi. How can I help?
Customer: I am inquiring about what our legal options are regarding not being able to obtain tax documents from our accountant/bookkeeper for our returns that CRA is requesting. We have repeatedly contacted her via email and phone to no avail.
JA: What province are you in? It matters because laws vary by location.
Customer: It’s complicated - my husband has his own consulting company that was operating in Alberta (where we lived) in 2018 and part of 2019 but was consulting for a company in Montreal, so he would commute to and from both provinces. We hired this accountant/bookkeeper to handle the financials for the company (CPP, EI, Taxes).
JA: What steps have you taken so far?
Customer: At the end of April of 2019 my husband became a permanent employee in Montreal so we moved to Montreal. Our accountant had filed the 2018 taxes (business and personal) but CRA is requesting T4 slips and documentation supporting the deductions indicated on the tax filing which we do not have as the accountant handled it. We have received a number of letters feo from CRA requesting the information - we forward these to our accountant for action. We have also emailed and cl called her, leaving messages for her to respond. The last correspondence was that she had taken ill and that she would take care of everything and that she would forward us the documents - this was in December of 2020 but nothing has been done and we are still waiting. We had recently sent 3 emails this week and no response.
JA: Anything else you want the Lawyer to know before I connect you?
Customer: We are also trying to get documents for our 2019 tax filings ... it’s a little complex as we also have moving expenses to claim as well. Customer: Chat is completed

Answered by Debra in 22 mins 2 years ago

Debra

10+ years of experience

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Expert in: Family Law, Legal, Estate Law, Real Estate Law, Criminal Law, Employment Law, Business Law, Consumer Protection Law, Bankruptcy Law, Traffic Law, Personal Injury Law.

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Debra

174646 Satisfied customers

10+ years of experience

Debra

10+ years of experience

174646 Satisfied customers

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Debra, Expert

Hello and Welcome to JustAnswer. My name is***** will be working on your question today and I am looking forward to our conversation.

Debra, Expert

Please note that the experts don’t text so there may be a bit of a delay. If you don’t answer back for a while I may not be online when you do but I will never desert you and will check back often. As well, as I am working from home it is possible that I will be interrupted but I will always return back as soon as I can.

I am sorry to hear of this difficult situation.

Do you think she is avoiding you or could she be sick or is this because she is not working because of COVID?

Do you have any idea?

Customer

Hi Debra,It's a pleasure to meet you.Thank you for your reply.Unfortunately we do not know why, it could be a combination of all the above mentioned. And although we understand and recognize the validity of all these possible reasons, there have been no communication of her status. If she would let us know, then we could move forward, but she does not reply to our texts, emails or phone messages. We have already paid for her services and are up to date with payment of her fees.

Customer

We are not sure if another accountant would be able to do our taxes and generate the necessary documents ...

Debra, Expert

You should send her a letter by registered mail so that a signature is required. Also send one by regular mail. In the letter indicate that you need to know now if she is still practicing accountancy and if so when will she be able to assist you.

You need to find out now if she is too sick to work or perhaps she has died or is struggling with Covid in her family or what. Because while this is a terrible time for everyone you still cannot be left waiting as the CRA is not going to wait endlessly.

I do think We should contact the CRA and indicate that this is what has happened.

You can also check with her licencing body to see if there was a record of her no longer practicing.

Does that make sense?

Customer

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.We noticed she posted on her personal Facebook page a couple of days ago.We have been extremely patient and understanding given her situation but the lack of communication on her end has been occurring longer than her recent illness.We feel that if we send such a letter as above, we will be waiting for an indefinite amount of time before she will assist us.We are hoping to send her an email and mail her the email in letter form or our discussion with CRA and the documents required of her - for her to forward them to us so we can deal with CRA directly given her health issues.Our question is - Is she legally obligated to provide us these requested documents? Is there any legal repercussions if she does not comply?

Debra, Expert

You own the documents so she is definitely legally required to provide them to you. If she doesn't you would file a complaint with her regulatory body and if necessary would sue her. I don't think you should trust her anymore given this information so I suggest that you hire a new accountant and have your new accountant send her a letter. She will be more worried then.

Customer

Thanks for this helpful information.How do we find out who her regulatory body is?We are hoping to hire a new accountant but because we are now in QC, we need someone who is knowledgeable with both Alberta and Quebec taxes.Do you think we could include "we have been advised to seek possible legal counsel" in our email request for the documents?Can we forward the email draft for your review?

Debra, Expert

You would complain here:

https://www.cpaalberta.ca/Protecting-the-Public/Conduct-and-Discipline

Sure I can review the draft.

Customer

Thanks so much for the link to file a complaint and for reviewing the email draft we plan to send. Please see attached.

Debra, Expert

For some reason I cannot open this.

I can get one of my kids to try shortly.

Customer

Sorry Debra, It's in "Pages" format. Here it is in PDF format. Thanks :)

Debra, Expert

That is an excellent letter. Just perfect.

Customer

Thank you so much for all your help and for the feedback!
We'll keep you posted on the outcome.
Have a good evening.

Debra, Expert

You are very welcome.

Debra, Expert

Thank you for trusting us to help you here at JustAnswer. I am marking this post as complete. If you would like to ask me more questions please start a new post and if you do if you say “This is only for Debra” I will be sure to give your post top priority.

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