Thousands of Canadian seniors scramble to file taxes following federal error

Canadians in for another ‘unique’ tax season amid COVID challenges, CRA says Dave Sim, 80, of Calgary has been checking his mailbox daily — but no luck yet.“This is getting ridiculous,” he told Global News.Employers and other payers have a deadline of Feb.

28 to provide an information slip, usually a T4 Statement of Remuneration Paid, which informs the recipient and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) exactly how much was earned in the previous year.But this year, some seniors faced a delay that was no fault of their own.“It gets a craw in my backside,” Sim said. “I can’t believe they (federal government) can’t adhere to their own law.”Sim is on Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and is worried if he doesn’t get the information to the CRA on time, he may not receive the various benefits he’s entitled to and can’t go without.“No we can’t.

We’ll have to go looking to borrow money from the family.” Ask the Expert: Filing your income taxes for 2021 Shirley Maier operates Total Tax & Accounting in Calgary.

Not only has she, as a senior, faced a delay personally, so have many of her clients.“I had quite of a few of them panicking,” she said.She agreed that the biggest concern she’s hearing is the possible loss of much-needed benefits if the deadline is missed.“You have to file by the due date, which this year is May 2,” she said. “And if you’re entitled to some supplements, those begin in July.“So if you’re late filing, you could very well miss your first payment.”Global News reached out to the federal government for a response.In a statement, Employment and Social Development Canada officials said:“There will be no impact as individuals have until May 2, 2022 to file.”It went on to describe what happened.“In August 2021,.