Hi.
I participated in a tax shelter program through Canadian Organization for International Philanthropy (COIP) in 2007. Long story short: I received a generous return from CRA for that year. I was then audited and it was deemed that the tax shelter program was not lawful and ordered to repay the money I received from CRA plus interest. I repaid the money to the CRA and subsequently filed an appeal, which was coordinated by COIP.
In the couple years I was waiting to hear back on the appeal (I was advised it would take a while) I received a letter from a company called SunRX, stating that in order to fulfill the obligations of my program, I now have to repay the loan, either by a money payment or by supplying pharmaceuticals (medication) of equal value. This was quite a shock to me since it has been almost 6 years and I was convinced that my obligations were fulfilled for quite some time. So now this company wants me to pay around $1,000 including interest. I am very leery of this attempt to extract more money from me since COIP's charitable organization status has been revoked by the CRA, and I read an article in the newspaper some years ago basically stating that COIP's tax shelter was a sham.
This tax shelter cost me upfront around $2,400, then I paid about $700 in interest to the CRA when I was asked to repay the return I received. And now a company claiming to be representing my interest and to fulfill my program obligation, wants me to pay another $1,000. They have notified me in the last correspondence that if I don't settle the account by March 1, 2014, that they will forward this case to a collection agency.
I feel as if this tax shelter program was a hoax, I have no evidence (other than shiny, well pamphlets and brochures stating pharmaceutical aid was being sent to Africa) of the validity of this program and it doing what it claimed to be doing, that is helping people with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Now this company wants more money, and people like me, reluctant to pay MORE money to (what could be a fraud - since it seems to be) are afraid of the threat of a collection agency coming after us, and tarnishing our credit rating etc...
If anybody has any advice or experience with this I would be interested in hearing it. Thanks in advance.
Krystian
I participated in a tax shelter program through Canadian Organization for International Philanthropy (COIP) in 2007. Long story short: I received a generous return from CRA for that year. I was then audited and it was deemed that the tax shelter program was not lawful and ordered to repay the money I received from CRA plus interest. I repaid the money to the CRA and subsequently filed an appeal, which was coordinated by COIP.
In the couple years I was waiting to hear back on the appeal (I was advised it would take a while) I received a letter from a company called SunRX, stating that in order to fulfill the obligations of my program, I now have to repay the loan, either by a money payment or by supplying pharmaceuticals (medication) of equal value. This was quite a shock to me since it has been almost 6 years and I was convinced that my obligations were fulfilled for quite some time. So now this company wants me to pay around $1,000 including interest. I am very leery of this attempt to extract more money from me since COIP's charitable organization status has been revoked by the CRA, and I read an article in the newspaper some years ago basically stating that COIP's tax shelter was a sham.
This tax shelter cost me upfront around $2,400, then I paid about $700 in interest to the CRA when I was asked to repay the return I received. And now a company claiming to be representing my interest and to fulfill my program obligation, wants me to pay another $1,000. They have notified me in the last correspondence that if I don't settle the account by March 1, 2014, that they will forward this case to a collection agency.
I feel as if this tax shelter program was a hoax, I have no evidence (other than shiny, well pamphlets and brochures stating pharmaceutical aid was being sent to Africa) of the validity of this program and it doing what it claimed to be doing, that is helping people with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Now this company wants more money, and people like me, reluctant to pay MORE money to (what could be a fraud - since it seems to be) are afraid of the threat of a collection agency coming after us, and tarnishing our credit rating etc...
If anybody has any advice or experience with this I would be interested in hearing it. Thanks in advance.
Krystian