Lost tax forms no way to get them what now?!!!?

Question

I worked for a short time for myself got a business # and made under $3000.i got the person i worked for to sign the forms to show what i made...he is now no where to be found(he had copies) but mine were stolen with some doc from my garage! and now i dont know what to do. I def want to report it to the govt but dont know how. i know i have a big return coming to me but i dont want to ignore this and down the road they audit me and need the money and think i am a liar! what do i do?

Answer 1

ZH, please don't panic, trust me, this is easy to resolve, let's take this one step at a time.

Firstly, with respect to your business #, CRA would have that on record, if you are a sole proprietor, your SIN and business # are linked. You can contact CRA's general inquiries at 1-800-959-8281 and get the information on your business registration, etc. You could also called CRA's business inquiries at 1-800-959-5525.

Next step, are you a GST registrant? If so, make sure you remit any GST owed (with or without forms) to CRA by the required due date. If you made $3,000.00, then the most you could possibly owe on GST is $180.00 without any consideration of your imput tax credits. GST, unlike taxation, charges both penalties and interest on amounts owed, filing a GST return without a payment will still be subject to interest charges, no penalties though, it's something to consider. Refer to CRA's website on GST Returns at:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/business/topics/gst/soleprop/returns/menu-e.html

As far as missing GST forms go, you can contact 1-800-959-2221 to obtain the GST 62 forms you are required to complete, or go to CRA's website listed below for other options:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/business/topics/gst/soleprop/returns/missing/menu-e.html

You mention that some documents were stolen from your garage, was it a break and enter? Do you have a police report of this occurrence? I had this happen to me back in 1985, had a break and enter, all my paperwork and records were stolen, and I too, was self employed back then.

When it came time for filing, I still had my bank records (or could retrieve them in duplicate from the bank), and I submitted both a copy of the police report and copies of my bank statements from my business account to prove what I had made. With respect to my expenses, anything that didn't appear on my bank statement, I had my credit card send me copies of my credit card statements to show what purchases I made, which I sent copies to CRA indicating what I bought, etc. This information was sent attached to my T2124 which was included with my T1 General Income Tax Return.

I also had a refund due to me in that particular taxation year, and CRA cheerfully accepted all the paperwork that I had submitted to them, no questions asked.

I am certain that you can retrieve the information somewhere about your business activities, and I would strongly recommend paperfiling your 2006 Tax Return, just so everything is on record.

Trust me, it will be peace of mind down the road.

Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

Phone the tax department and find out !