CRA Math Error

Tax Topics
1

Well…I’ve been at this for 35 years and have never seen this…

Filed a 2015 return with simple Non-Refundable Tax Credit amounts for:

  • Basic Personal Amount
  • CPP
  • EI
  • Canada Employment Amount

CRA Assessed the return with completely wrong Federal and Ontario Non-Refundable Credit amounts?

I can see each of these items with the correct amounts on the Assessment screen on RAC, but the TOTAL for the Non-Refundable Tax Credits (Line 335) does not add up to the sum of the items?

There is no CPP or EI overcontribution or anything else, just simply a math error on the CRA’s part!

I spoke to the CRA and was advised to file an adjustment (they couldn’t change it there and then for me even though it’s their issue), but how do I file an adjustment when all of the individual credit amounts are correct – just the total is wrong? Do I override the total amounts to the WRONG amounts, then remove the overrides and create the T1ADJ?

Thanks in advance for any insights…Mike

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2

I recently filed a 2017 adjustment request for a new client. Simple T4 but CRA assessed the client showing the CPP and EI in the federal NRTC’s but only the EI in the Ontario credits. I did an on-line adjustment requesting the CPP in the Ontario credits. The client got a letter asking for documents to support the claim. I sent them the 2017 T4 from the RAC system and the assessment from the RAC system. I found it very odd that their computer would allow that type of error. Maybe it’s not so rare.

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3

I tried doing that one time but it didn’t work because there was no adjustment. from what I had originally filed. I don’t remember what i ended up doing. I think I talked with someone else at CRA who said they would just fix it.

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4

Keying error somewhere.

Hmmm…total should be $15,786.81 and is $13,427…difference of $2,359.81 (with some “CRA rounding” error)

So…$2,383.21-$23.83 = $2,359.38 (with some “CRA rounding” error). It’s a reversion.

Can’t tell you how to fix it, but that’s the root cause.

5

You could contact problem resolutions.
OR
Try mailing or faxing a T1 ADJ asking a change on line 335. It might make someone blink.

6

Interesting…SmallBizGuy…now we’re getting somewhere…

Spoke to CRA again this morning – since it’s not a Line Number that can be adjusted, I had to mail them a manual request letter, asking them to fix it.

Thanks to All for your replies…Mike

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7

… I bet you made out like a bandit on this tax return @mike. :wink:

isn’t it ironic how you can lose money on some of the most basic tax returns… :roll_eyes:

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8

You’re so right!

Two calls to the CRA for about 3 hours in total.
My background investigation and manual adjustment request letter preparation (2 hours)
Explaining it all to the client (30 minutes)

The only saving grace is that I filed her 2014 to 2022 returns a few weeks ago, so recouped a bit of it due to the multiple filings.

As you all know, the worst part isn’t just the time wasted above, but rather the fact that I could have done several tax returns instead, at a time when I’ve got maybe 100 on the pile!

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9

I appreciate you sharing this in the community @mike .

Not too sure if you were able to do this, but I hope you billed your time to the client for this.

The depressing thing is that the CRA won’t hold any of their agents accountable for this mess and plus they expect the accountant to fix THEIR own mistakes!

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10

Assuming this is a computer error , that does not bode well for CRA’s roll out of their new automatic tax filing system.

CRA Automatic Tax Filing

The Canada Revenue Agency will pilot a new automatic system next year to help vulnerable Canadians who don’t file their taxes get their benefits.

This week’s federal budget says the Canada Revenue Agency will also present a plan in 2024 to expand the service, following consultations with stakeholders and community organizations.

The move toward automatic tax filing, first promised in the 2020 speech from the throne, is one of several budget measures the Liberals say are meant to help Canadians with the cost of living.

Experts and advocates have called for automatic filing, noting many vulnerable Canadians miss out on benefits to which they are entitled.

Canadians are generally not required to file tax returns every year unless they owe money, but the federal government is increasingly relying on the Canada Revenue Agency to deliver income-tested benefits to individuals.

That includes Canada Child Benefit, as well as the recent top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit and the temporary doubling of the GST tax credit.

A 2020 report co-authored by Jennifer Robson, an associate professor in political management at Carleton University, estimates 10 to 12 per cent of Canadians don’t file their taxes.

Although there were non-filers across all income groups, they were most heavily concentrated in lower income brackets.

The report estimated the value of benefits lost to working-age non-filers was $1.7 billion in 2015.

The federal budget also said the Canada Revenue Agency will expand access to a service set up in 2018 that allows some Canadians with lower or fixed incomes to auto-file simple returns over the telephone.

The budget says that two million Canadians will be eligible for that service, called “File My Return,” by 2025, which is nearly three times the number of people who can use it now.

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11

This was a 2015 return so it must have been paper filed. Do you know if it was filed using the “Condensed” T1 that has the big barcode? Really sounds to me like a CRA clerk manually data-entered a wrong number - - cannot imagine that it was a ‘computer error’.

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12

Agreed: keying error somehow.