Where can I report tax evasion?

[Azxster]

Here is the situation:

My friend is currently renting a basement apartment. He has paid the month's rent but he has already paid for the "last month's rent" at the beginning when he first moved in. He is moving and is only getting back 20% of his deposit. Anyways, the landlord refuses to write receipts.

I advise him to do two things:

1) Report the tax evasion to the CRA
2) Report the illegal basement apartment to the fire department

[15-20_God]

I advise him to do two things:

1) Report the tax evasion to the CRA
2) Report the illegal basement apartment to the fire department

and you are sure of these things because?

if not, you just look like a kid wasting everyone's time.

[UNiON]

how about you worry about yourself and let your "friend" worry about himself

[CheapScotsman]

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/agency/investigations/menu-e.html
and you can look at the menu bar on the left hand side.

[athomas]

Without receipts, there isn't much you can do.

[dolphie]

Without receipts, there isn't much you can do.
the irony.
lol
that's the point. Nobody is going to have receipts if they are claiming someone wont give them a receipt.
get it?

"im sorry sir, without receipts, you can't prove he wouldn't give you a receipt"
lol

[flito ray]

Here is the situation:

My friend is currently renting a basement apartment. He has paid the month's rent but he has already paid for the "last month's rent" at the beginning when he first moved in. He is moving and is only getting back 20% of his deposit. Anyways, the landlord refuses to write receipts.

I advise him to do two things:

1) Report the tax evasion to the CRA
2) Report the illegal basement apartment to the fire department

are you a snitch?? why would you do that to friend. you should just keep the nfo to yourself.

[bluedcfive]

are you a snitch?? why would you do that to friend. you should just keep the nfo to yourself.

I think he is talking about reporting the landlord, not his friend.........

[sunnybono]

Here is the situation:

My friend is currently renting a basement apartment. He has paid the month's rent but he has already paid for the "last month's rent" at the beginning when he first moved in. He is moving and is only getting back 20% of his deposit. Anyways, the landlord refuses to write receipts.

I advise him to do two things:

1) Report the tax evasion to the CRA
2) Report the illegal basement apartment to the fire department

You obviously want to report the Landlord to CRA!!! Just give them a shout and tell them his name, address, etc and they will eventually pull up his file. Since your buddy doesn't have receipts, does he have cancelled cheques? Did he report his rental expense on his own taxes, whether he qualified for the tax credit or not? Your buddy is going to have to prove something to CRA!!

sk

[PennyArcade]

are you a snitch?? why would you do that to friend. you should just keep the nfo to yourself.

I think Azxster wants to report the landlord for tax evasion because the landlord is not giving 100% of the deposit back to Azxster's friend.

Anyway, back to Azxster:

Was there a lease agreement? If so, did your friend fulfill the tenant portion of it? There could be a legitimate reason why the landlord has not given back 100% of the deposit (not enough notification, etc).

Regarding the receipt, that's going to be tough. It is obvious that the landlord doesn't want to pay taxes for your friend's rent. If your friend paid by cheque, you may have a chance to get a receipt and even threaten to report tax evasion and get 100% of the deposit. If your friend paid by cash, then there isn't much you can do because there is no evidence of any transaction.

[pipolchap]

If the agreement was to pay in cash w/o receipt, the landlord should be offering the apt at lower than market rates. This is usually a win-win situation.

[Nyte]

If the agreement was to pay in cash w/o receipt, the landlord should be offering the apt at lower than market rates. This is usually a win-win situation.

I've never received, nor ever asked for receipts from my landlord. I have a lease agreement, cheques going to them every month, and plenty of witnesses that know I live there. What more do you need for proof? If your friend is living in a place where everything was done verbally and all cash, then that was a choice he made and has to live with. There are advantages to that, and you're seeing one of the disadvantages.

If he's not getting his deposit back, then I would guess the landlord has a good reason for that. Most won't keep a deposit for no reason, more trouble than its worth.

[TotallyKiller]

Oh, and the fire department can't/won't do anything. You can report illegal suites all you want (to the right people, not the FD) and they will decide if they want to inspect it or not.

[BBQPorkBun]

Your friend can take him to court basically.
Try this site out.

http://www.orht.gov.on.ca/scripts/index_.asp

Make sure your friend has proof of everything. He is also entitled to interest for his deposit while he's at it.

Best thing to do is set expectations from the beginning, monthly receipts, written contract with deposit etc.

[Octavius]

Here is what I would do if I was your "friend".

Keep track of how much rent you are paying throughout the year. Then DECLARE that amount on your taxes, even if you don't have the receipts.

The government will ask him what is going on and why he doesn't have receipts. He will tell them that he has been paying rent to a landlord and that it was that amount that he has paid to date.

They will check the landlord's taxes to see if he has filed any additional income for rent (which obviously, he hasn't), and in this case, they would proceed to audit him.

Get your friend to tell the landlord that he will be declaring the rent on his taxes with OR without receipts, and to let him know that if their taxes do not match up equally that his landlord will be audited by the CRA.

That should get him to write receipts. If not...well...the CRA will have fun making him pay back taxes. If the CRA needs proof of your friend being a tenant, get your friend to show them the rent agreement between said landlord and himself. That should take care of any personal liability he may have (as technically, he hasn't done anything wrong)

Good Luck

[ktkn]

Here is the situation:

My friend is currently renting a basement apartment. He has paid the month's rent but he has already paid for the "last month's rent" at the beginning when he first moved in. He is moving and is only getting back 20% of his deposit. Anyways, the landlord refuses to write receipts.

I advise him to do two things:

1) Report the tax evasion to the CRA
2) Report the illegal basement apartment to the fire department

Well.. if you're in the GVR area, things like this are handled by the rental tenancy agency. Usually, it ends up being handled by arbitration. Basically, your friend is out of luck unless he doesn't mind a lot of hassle, and it's more of a "principle" thing. The landlord basically cannot keep any of the deposit and should give the entire thing back... and if the landlord wanted to sue for damages, they must do so through the proper channels which would generally be the rental tenancy office... If you're really mad, and the landlord is unreasonable... you can do this... (I don't recommend this unless your landlord is a real big shark)...

just don't move out. Stay in there, don't pay rent for another month. Basically your landlord is helpless. The laws and regulations basically protect the tenant more than the landlord. There is almost nothing your landlord can do and will have to file all this paperwork and try to get you evicted, and he will be *worried* because he had been evading taxes all along. You can at least threaten to do this if they do not return your deposit. I've had at least one deadbeat tenant that caused the biggest headaches for me.

[doodling]

Here is the situation:

My friend is currently renting a basement apartment. He has paid the month's rent but he has already paid for the "last month's rent" at the beginning when he first moved in. He is moving and is only getting back 20% of his deposit. Anyways, the landlord refuses to write receipts.

I advise him to do two things:

1) Report the tax evasion to the CRA
2) Report the illegal basement apartment to the fire department

doesn't make much sense.

here in toronto, you must give at least 2 months notice to terminate a lease. if your friend gave that 2 months notice 2 months ago, then he would simply have to write a cheque for that second to last month's rent, and the last month's rent deposit would go towards that last month - meaning he wouldnt be giving the landlord ANOTHER cheque.

did your friend give 2 months notice?

RE: receipts - if there was a signed contract, that contract will do, no need for receipts.

RE: interest on last month's rent - i think that only applies if you fullfil the term of the lease, for a lease that is at least 1 year long.

[UrbanPoet]

maybe you should stop renting shady basement apartments...
they are cheap and fun... but you have no protection from the govt. (which is already very little and sometimes screws ppl over)

Arent there rental agreements that are pretty damn official that people have to sign? I believe they are legally binding documents...

[Pipes]

I agree with doodling, doesnt sound like 2 months notice was given, if that's the case, the landlord is being nice by giving back 20%. Just make sure to collect 4% interest for each year the landlord held your rent deposit.

Just as an FYI for anyone interested, basement appartments certainly are regulated by the government. Here in ontario, a basement appartment has to comply with the fire code, building code, pass an electrical safety inspection and it has to be registered with municipal property standards.

If you're living in an illegal basement appartment, you can have it inspected by the fire department and anything they find wrong will have to be corrected. Same with the electrical standards. Also reporting it to the city could get your landlord a hefty fine if that's what you're into. And then take your landlord to the rental housing tribunal and ask for repayment of all the inspection costs, a portion of your rent returned to you etc etc see the orht web site for details. The ontario rental housing tribunal works fairly quickly. You might also want to consult a free legal clinic in your area.

[Pipes]

oh, and just make sure you claim your rent on your income tax return each year, even if it's not going to help you get money back. im sure the supercomputers that process all the tax returns will put 2 and 2 together.

[Neil]

Here is what I would do if I was your "friend".

Keep track of how much rent you are paying throughout the year. Then DECLARE that amount on your taxes, even if you don't have the receipts.


What category are you advising he/she to 'declare' this on their taxes? If you mean as a deduction, wouldn't that be a crime on their part trying to claim a deduction they have no right to? It almost seems like your advice is that the victim commit tax fraud and then try to extort the landlord in some way. Surely there's a better way to resolve this than committing 2 crimes?

[Neil]

If you're living in an illegal basement appartment, you can have it inspected by the fire department and anything they find wrong will have to be corrected. Same with the electrical standards. Also reporting it to the city could get your landlord a hefty fine if that's what you're into.
Kind of impractical though for the tenant. I'm imagining a lot of the regulation suites could have a trivial violation of some kind. Or even if it's not trivial, wouldn't they just order the place uninhabitable, leaving the tenant immediately without accommodation?

[Pipes]

Im not sure what you mean by a regulation suite, but any legal appartment has already passed all the required inspections. Im talking more about the shady places, and what someone could do if their landlord was causing them grief. If the inspector did order the place unihabitable, you take your landlord to the rental housing tribunal and they will be ordered to pay any costs you incur, staying in a hotel until the place is brought up to code or until you find a new place to live, moving costs, and partial repayment of previous rent paid is all possible. This is worst case scenario kind of thing of course.

Also, it's not a crime to use rent paid as a deduction, it's a normal thing, and there is a spot on the income tax forms specificaly for doing so. Of course you're not actually going to benefit from deducting your rent if you make over a certain amount, but just by entering it on the tax form, you're making sure the government knows that your landlord does indeed have (possibly undeclared) income.

[hightechfan]

Here is the situation:

My friend is currently renting a basement apartment. He has paid the month's rent but he has already paid for the "last month's rent" at the beginning when he first moved in. He is moving and is only getting back 20% of his deposit. Anyways, the landlord refuses to write receipts.

I advise him to do two things:

1) Report the tax evasion to the CRA
2) Report the illegal basement apartment to the fire department

1)Did he give 60 days notice.If he did not the landlord has the legal right to keep the 20%.

2)Sure he could report the basemnet apt.But if he does he will aslo be in some heat.

3)He has to have prrof in terms of the tax evasion he just can' call up and say so he has to have very solid proof.