About 13,000 producers who filed or planned to electronically file their CAIS and income tax forms simultaneously, will instead have to print out the forms and mail them.
Accountants were informed May 9 that there is a problem with e-filing of the 2005 harmonized Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization form.
CAIS spokesperson Ellen Funk said the form is first submitted to Canada Revenue Agency. It is then sent electronically to CAIS, but not all of the information is being correctly transmitted.
Producers are asked to send in paper copies of five sections of the form – sections 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9 – to ensure that CAIS has all the correct information.
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She said the forms are harmonized only in the provinces and territories where Canada delivers CAIS: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Yukon.
“We regret the inconvenience to our clients,” said Funk. “We recognize that access to e-filing is a benefit for producers and accountants and we are continuing to work toward offering e-filing capability for 2006.”
Frank Oystryk, who operates Active Accounting in Canora, Sask., said the computer glitch means reprinting five to six pages for each client.
He said 99 percent of his 1,800 clients file electronically and it will take a good week’s work to print and mail the forms.
The federal government has been pushing for harmonization since CAIS came into existence, said Oystryk. Last fall, accountants were told that harmonization would be in place for 2005 and they began preparing for the change.
“We all worked hard in our provinces,” he said. “Somebody botched the job between (Canada Revenue Agency) and CAIS.”
Accountants have to be compensated for the extra work, he said, and the government should do it because its computer system is at fault.
Oystryk said this experience leads him to question CRA’s ability to handle information. When tax forms are filed, the agency shares information with CAIS, prescription drug plans and other agencies.
“If they can’t do a proper job, what in the world are we doing,” he said.
Funk said about 60 percent, or 36,000 of an estimated 60,000 producers in the federal delivery provinces, were expected to file electronically.
Of the forms sent in to date, about half need the CAIS forms sent on paper, she said.
The deadline to file 2005 CAIS is Sept. 30. The income tax deadline for individual farmers is June 15, while corporations have until June 30.
