Tax Survival for Canadians. Dale Barrett

to returns at a time when the CRA would no longer be allowed to reassess those returns because of a limitation under the law, the CRA will request that the taxpayer provide a signed waiver permitting the CRA to reassess the taxpayer outside of the allowable time. In circumstances where the taxpayer will benefit from the reassessment, he or she may consider signing the waiver, but the person should seek legal advice.

      Be careful if you are going to consider signing: I have on various occasions represented clients against unscrupulous CRA auditors who had provided a waiver for my client to sign because he or she had waited too long to reassess the taxpayer, which would have made the audit a waste of time. One of those times the auditor went around my back and contacted my client directly. In cases involving an audit which had been delayed, the signing of a waiver could be detrimental to the taxpayer, except in the extreme unlikely case of the audit results being found in favour of the taxpayer. As such, a taxpayer should not sign any waiver until he or she has received proper legal advice.

      7.3 If you have not filed your return

      If you are not up-to-date on your filings, or you have not fully reported your income, the matter should be considered serious and attention should be focused immediately on resolving the situation. Your course of action would differ depending on whether you have been contacted by the CRA regarding your failure to file. If you have not yet been contacted by the CRA, either in writing, by telephone, or in person, it is likely that you may qualify for the Voluntary Disclosure Program, which could help you avoid penalties and prosecution (see Chapter 10 for more information).