A Toronto resident wants to know how the Canada Revenue Agency could decide her 85-year-old mother was dead — and cut off her Ontario Trillium benefit — without any proof.

Lavinia Nassif says she received a letter in the mail Tuesday addressed to the estate of the late Maria Francisco, who lives and breathes in the same North York house she does.

“These are people who work for the government. How do you put someone in the computer as dead without any death certificate?” asks a baffled Nassif, a former provincial employee who managed the gasoline tax branch at Queen’s Park for 15 years.

To make matters worse, Nassif learned the closest CRA office has closed its doors to the public and now only responds to enquiries by mail.

And when she tried the toll-free number for the agency, she was told that if her mother was indeed alive, Nassif would need a T1013 authorization form filled out by Francisco — who is illiterate — before anyone at the agency could talk to her about her mother’s problem.

If the situation wasn’t cleared up by the end of the month, her mother’s pension cheque would also be terminated.

Francisco’s problem isn’t new to the CRA.

The agency’s computer system will declare someone deceased if they accidentally write their date of birth in the field meant for date of death, which appears on the first page of the electronic and print form of an individual’s tax return, says CRA spokesperson Sam Papadopoulos.

But the mistake can also be the fault of the agency’s data-entry employees, who key in paper returns at 180 strokes a minute.

“We do take it seriously because it’s disruptive and disturbing to individuals,” said Papadopoulos. Canada Pension and Old Age Security can end up being cut off because the CRA sends out monthly updates to Services Canada, which handles both benefits.

Nassif said that after getting the letter, she hauled her aged mother, who uses a walker, up to 5010 Yonge St. and stood outside with two other people, reading a sign that said the north Toronto tax office no longer offered over-the-counter service. Enquiries, in the form of a letter, could be put in a mailbox.

An employee who identified himself as a security guard came out and told Nassif to call a 1-800 number.

When she did, two agents separately told her they could only dispense with the T1013 form and talk to her if Francisco could read the income line from her tax assessment, something she was unable to do.

“She never went to school. She doesn’t read or write,” Nassif says of her mother, who emigrated from Portugal in the 1950s.

Desperate, Nassif tried the 1-800 number again and was finally helped by an agent “sent from Heaven,” who said he could clear up the mistake within 24 hours.

“He told me he understood because his mother also couldn’t read or write,” says Nassif. To verify her mother’s identity, the agent asked Francisco questions she could answer, such as how many children she had, and her birthdate.

The mistake still baffles Nassif, who can’t understand why there isn’t a backup plan to ensure it doesn’t happen. When her father died in December, she had to provide a copy of his death certificate at least 20 times to wrap up his affairs.

“How is it a government employee enters a code and you have no papers to back up what you did?” she asks. “These are people’s lives you’re talking about.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The Yonge St. tax service office closed its doors to the public this month. The federal government began closing all 51 of its tax service offices across the country last year.

A website for the office says that “payment or enquiry counter services are no longer provided at this location. An external drop box, emptied twice daily, is available.”

Papadopoulos says the CRA still offers many online and telephone options. “We’re not saying, ‘Don’t talk to us.’ We recognize that seniors can have difficulty, and that’s why the telephone service is there.”

Read more about: