Community

Huge Tax Filing Problem Creating Voter Cards for Non-Citizens

Cory G. Litzenberger, CPA, CMA, CFP, C.Mgr

Published

6 years ago

3 minute read

Our office has uncovered a major Canada Revenue Agency & Elections Canada information sharing problem as a result of tax software many practitioners used (including us) in the past. This major glitch is resulting in voter cards being sent to non-citizens this year’s Alberta election.

If you check “NO” for the question “Are you a Canadian Citizen” the software is supposed to automatically leave the next question about Elections Canada blank when you file the return or at a minimum, flag as an error.

Even if it goes through, the CRA system should be able to recognize that they answered “NO” to the Citizen question, and should not forward information to Elections Canada.

Neither of these scenarios happened.

As a result, many permanent resident, non-citizens, are getting voter cards this year.

Below are images from my non-citizen client – both what they received (voter card) and what was actually filed on their return back in 2015. I have redacted the personal information to protect the innocent.

I’ve also tried entering the information in both our old software from our old provider, and our new software from our new provider, and the same results occur.

The problem is that there is no way for tax practitioners to reverse this in the future either. Once the CRA has sent info to Elections Canada, there is no way to remove it and say they shouldn’t have.

If you override and check “NO”, that means that Elections Canada can’t receive new info. If you override and check “YES”, then CRA & Elections Canada assume you are a citizen, even when you clearly have checked the NO box in the citizen form.

In essence, the “Are you a Canadian Citizen” question on the tax return is irrelevant. The real question is next one asking if they should send information to Elections Canada, because if they say yes, they are registered to vote and get a voter card.

This is a HUGE problem for potential voter fraud and needs to be fixed!

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Cory G. Litzenberger, CPA, CMA, CFP, C.Mgr is the President & Founder of CGL Strategic Business & Tax Advisors; you can find out more about Cory’s biography at http://www.CGLtax.ca/Litzenberger-Cory.html

Cory G. Litzenberger, CPA, CMA, CFP, C.Mgr

CEO | Director CGL Tax Professional Corporation With the Income Tax Act always by his side on his smart-phone, Cory has taken tax-nerd to a whole other level. His background in strategic planning, tax-efficient corporate reorganizations, business management, and financial planning bring a well-rounded approach to assist private corporations and their owners increase their wealth through the strategies that work best for them. An entrepreneur himself, Cory started CGL with the idea that he wanted to help clients adapt to the ever-changing tax and economic environment and increase their wealth through optimizing the use of tax legislation coupled with strategic business planning and financial analysis. His relaxed blue-collar approach in a traditionally white-collar industry can raise a few eyebrows, but in his own words: “People don’t pay me for my looks. My modeling career ended at birth.” More info: https://CGLtax.ca/Litzenberger-Cory.html

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Support local healthcare while winning amazing prizes!

Published on March 26, 2025

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Community

SPARC Caring Adult Nominations now open!

Published on March 24, 2025

SPARC Red Deer

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