Can I sue the disqualified tax return preparer?

Question

I am asking this question for a friend of mine. He had a tax return preparer to file his and his relatives' tax returns of 2007. But that guy failed miserably; he never gets to summit the tax returns. And he has all my friend's docs. My friend has tried numerous times contacting him via phone, but that guy is simply disappeared. Without all the receipts, my friends now couldn't possibly remedy the mistake. We are immigrants, and we dont really know what to do next. Really appreciate your info and help.

Answer 1

I'm not sure about suing but I can suggest a way to get copies of some missing documents. Depending on the type of documents your friend had he may be able to contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to get copies.

If your friend or any of his relatives are employee's (as opposed to being self-employed) their T4's will be submitted to the CRA by their employer. If they have any investments where T5's or T3's were issued the CRA will also have those on file.

Assuming they are not self-employed these items normally make up the majority of a person's return. As I gather from your question they have still not filed their 2007 returns I would recommend they file with the information that can get from the CRA so as to avoid additional penalties and interest for late filling.

I would recommend your friend calls the CRA to enquire about getting copies of the above mentioned documents. They should have their 2006 return in front of them when calling as they will be asked questions to verify their identity.

Call 1-800-959-8281 (the second phone number from the link below).