From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Blunder results in Canada Revenue Agency filing lien against wrong person: CRA   
   SOTW   
      
   Steve Rennie, The Canadian Press    
   Published Thursday, January 15, 2015 3:38PM EST    
   OTTAWA -- The Canada Revenue Agency was left with egg on its face after   
   slapping a lien on the wrong person.   
      
   A new document shows the CRA registered a lien against a home owned by a   
   person with the same name as someone else who owed taxes.   
      
   An official described the blunder to CRA commissioner Andrew Treusch in an   
   August 2014 memo.   
   "The collection officer did not provide the taxpayer's address to the person   
   who was conducting the property search," the document says.   
      
   "When the collection officer obtained the search results, they did not confirm   
   that the address of the property was that of the taxpayer, that the middle   
   name of the property owner was the same as the taxpayer, nor did they check   
   that the name of the    
   other party who was listed as a joint owner was the spouse, or someone else   
   who might be related to the taxpayer."   
      
   The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the memo with names and other details   
   blanked out under the Access to Information Act.   
      
   The CRA can register a lien against someone's home if they have an outstanding   
   balance on their personal income taxes. The agency also has the power to   
   garnishee wages. These actions are usually only taken once the CRA has   
   exhausted other means of    
   collecting a long-overdue payment.   
      
   The document lays the blame for the foul-up on the collection officer.   
      
   "Had the collection officer performed the extra steps to confirm that the   
   property was registered to the taxpayer, this error could have been avoided,"   
   it says.   
      
   The CRA removed the lien once it realized its mistake, the memo says. But   
   liens can hurt someone's credit score and stay with them for years.   
      
   The memo writer tried to pass off the mistake as a teachable moment.   
      
   "We have identified an opportunity to further clarify and strengthen the   
   messaging to all collection officers of the need for diligence in confirming   
   the identity of the owner of an asset as being the same person as the taxpayer   
   prior to registering an    
   interest in that asset," he told Treusch.   
      
   CRA spokeswoman Jennifer McCabe said she could not discuss the details of   
   specific cases.   
      
   "The CRA has policies and procedures that govern legal action initiated by   
   collection officers in attempts to collect outstanding tax debts," McCabe   
   wrote in an email.   
      
   "When the CRA is made aware of an error, the agency investigates, consults   
   with the impacted parties and takes immediate action to ensure that the   
   situation is rectified.   
      
   "As a result of such incidents, policies are reviewed and additional   
   instructions are provided to collection officers to prevent errors from   
   reoccurring."   
      
      
      
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