From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Ottawa mother loses thousands in child benefits thanks to CRA error   :CRA SOTW   
      
    Single mom told she won't be repaid child tax benefits owed before 2010 —   
   money someone else collected   
      
   By Alistair Steele, CBC News Posted: Oct 04, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Oct   
   04, 2016 5:19 PM ET    
      
   An Ottawa woman who discovered she's owed thousands of dollars in child tax   
   benefits she never received because of an error the Canada Revenue Agency made   
   a decade ago has been told not to expect to recoup the full amount — even   
   though CRA has admitted    
   its mistake, and someone else apparently pocketed the money.   
      
   Nicole Davoudi, a single mother of two teenage daughters, first applied for   
   the Canada child tax benefit in 2006. She was also receiving the universal   
   child care benefit (which was combined with the child tax benefit to form the   
   Canada child benefit in    
   July 2016). The tax-free benefits are intended to help families with the cost   
   of raising children under 18.   
      
   Davoudi said that after applying for the benefits and seeing monthly deposits   
   in her account, she never gave it much thought.   
      
   "I never really questioned the amounts," Davoudi said. "The money that I did   
   receive, I thought that's what I was entitled to."   
      
   Paid to wrong account   
   But in late April, after speaking with a friend who earned a similar salary   
   but who had been receiving more in child benefits, Davoudi called CRA to find   
   out whether she was indeed receiving monthly child tax benefit payments.   
      
   "I asked [the agent] if I was receiving the benefit and she said, 'You are   
   receiving it.'... $230.78 was the amount, I believe, and I said, 'I can assure   
   you I have not received that amount.'"   
      
   Davoudi was eventually informed the child tax benefit payments that should   
   have been going to her had instead been paid to someone else, because a CRA   
   agent had mistakenly entered the wrong bank account — it was off by a single   
   digit — when Davoudi    
   first applied for the benefits.   
      
   "She did admit that it went into the wrong account. They didn't admit to any   
   wrongdoing," Davoudi said.   
      
   Turned to minister's office   
      
   After numerous phone calls and a frustrating lack of information — at one   
   point, Davoudi said, the CRA spent weeks tracing the wrong benefit — she   
   turned to the office of National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier.   
       
   In August, Davoudi finally began receiving back payments of varying amounts   
   totalling just over $8,000, but only dating back three years. To complicate   
   matters, some of that money appears to be linked to disability claims Davoudi   
   made in 2013 and 2014    
   after leaving a high-paying job to care for her daughter, who was diagnosed   
   with leukemia.    
      
   "Had I known about this money then, it would have helped immensely," said   
   Davoudi.    
      
   Davoudi said her "point person" in the minister's office, case co-ordinator   
   Jessica Henri, informed her 51 back payments have now been issued, though to   
   date Davoudi has only received 36 deposits.   
      
   Benefits denied could total $11K    
      
   Davoudi said Henri also informed her CRA would not repay benefits earned   
   between 2006 and 2010, an amount that is difficult to pinpoint due to   
   Davoudi's fluctuating income and variances in the child benefits scheme, but   
   which could total about $11,000.     
      
   "I mean it is their data entry error, and it seems that they have a limit as   
   to how far they want to pay me back," Davoudi said. "So I'm getting   
   frustrated, I feel like they owe me an explanation, they owe me some type of   
   explanation as to how this    
   happened, and what is the repayment plan."   
      
   Henri did not respond to the CBC's request for an interview.   
      
   Under the Income Tax Act, CRA cannot discuss taxpayers' accounts. But in an   
   emailed statement to CBC News, the tax agency spokeswoman Jelica Zdero said it   
   makes "every effort" to investigate and resolve situations such as Davoudi's.   
      
   "If the results substantiate that the payment was deposited into the wrong   
   bank account, funds are recovered and the client is issued a new payment,"   
   Zdero wrote.    
      
   However, "payments older than six years cannot be validated because the   
   Financial Administration Act prescribes [Public Services and Procurement   
   Canada] to destroy payment records after six years."   
      
   Filed complaints with CRA, ombudsman   
      
   Davoudi has filed an official service complaint with CRA and complained to the   
   taxpayers' ombudsman.   
      
   "It's not a common situation that we would receive a complaint on," said   
   ombudsman Sherra Profit. "But it is important to us to make sure that benefit   
   recipients get the benefits that they're entitled to, and to help them if   
   they're having difficulties    
   in the service they're receiving from CRA."   
      
   Alan Freeman, an honorary senior fellow at the University of Ottawa's graduate   
   school of public and international affairs and a former financial journalist   
   who was also head of communications for the Department of Finance, said he's   
   never heard of a case    
   quite like this one, where CRA appears to have picked an "arbitrary" cut-off   
   date for reparations.   
      
   Freeman said he understands why the government would want to place reasonable   
   time limits on some programs, but that doesn't appear to apply here.   
      
   "From what you've been telling me, she applied in good faith and it was the   
   CRA that made the mistake," Freeman said, noting CRA would expect to be paid   
   in full if the tables were turned.   
      
   "I really think this is a question of equity and common sense. The government   
   made the mistake, the government should make this woman whole."   
      
   Updated   
   •	Nicole Davoudi will be paid all child tax benefits owed dating back to   
   2006.   
   •	Davoudi tells CBC News a CRA manager called her Tuesday to resolve the   
   issue.   
   •	The manager will hand deliver the payments Thursday, Davoudi said.   
      
      
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