20 September 1990 Ministerial Letter 90177028 F - Remission of Tax where Excess Contributions

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ARC.

Dear 19(1)

I am writing in reply to your letter of June 18, 1990, and further to a letter dated July 7, 1989 from my departmental assistant Mr. Remi McCoy in response to yours of June 28, 1989. This matter concerns submissions received by you from 19(1) regarding  24(1) I apologize for the delay of my reply.

In your earlier correspondence you asked if it was possible to consider some form of relief from the tax and interest applied by this Department as a result of the excess contributions.

My officials have written directly to 19(1) on April 5, 1990, after carefully reviewing the circumstances of the case for administrative relief under the Income Tax Act. I regret that the reply was unfavourable.

There remained consideration for remission of taxes under the Financial Administration Act. That Act provides that "The Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Treasury Board, whenever he considers it in the public interest, may remit any tax, fee or penalty". To achieve this purpose, guidelines have been established to provide the limits within which a recommendation for remission can be supported. In every case, the circumstances are reviewed and carefully considered on an objective basis in accordance with the criteria set by the guidelines. Accordingly, a remission order is recommended only in cases where an individual is experiencing continuous and extreme hardship, there has been an error by the Department or, if coupled with a financial setback, the tax results from circumstances beyond the control of the taxpayer.

Consideration of requests of this nature involves an extensive and fully objective review of the facts of the particular situation and a careful evaluation of the merits of the request to ensure fair and uniform application of established criteria.

Mr. Gerry O'Reilley, a departmental officer, is handling 19(1) file. 19(1) may wish to contact him directly to discuss this matter. He may be reached by telephone at (613) 957-9228 or by writing to the Publications Division, Technical Review Section, Revenue Canada, Taxation, 875 Heron Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0L8.

I wish to thank you for bringing  19(1)  concerns to my attention. I can assure you that he will receive the utmost consideration possible in the resolution of his case.

Yours sincerely,

Otto Jelinek

GJO/hm(#3-90177028)(2)(Min A - Tech. Int.)19(1)August 29, 1990G.J. O'Reilley - 957-9228

PH/jp(Min52-90177028)40September 5, 1990D.M.'s Office