The CRA 'picks on people who can't defend themselves,' says single mother battling agency

Tears well up in Karli Baxter's eyesas she recounts her recent experience with the Canada Revenue Agency.

The single mother of two from Kitchener, Ont.,is fighting the agency's demand that she pay$20,000 in back payments forchild benefits and tax credits after a CRA reviewrejectedher claim that she has been separated from herhusband since 2015.

Baxter is just one of nearly 100 people who reached out toCBCNews after itprofiled another single mother from Saskatchewanwho has spent the last six months battling the CRA over own her marital status and child benefits.

"This is very scary, especially at this time of the year. I struggled to even get my daughter a snow suit this year," BaxtertoldCBCNews."Christmas has been impacted. My kids are not getting anywhere near what I would like to do. I've tried to explain it to them and they've been pretty cool, but it still hurts."

Many of the other single parents whocontactedCBCdescribed a similar experience. They saythey notified the CRA of a separation from their spouse andtheir benefits came as expected untila couple years or more later, whenthe agency decided to conduct a review of their situation.

That review requiresproof the separation is real, such as utility bills with separate addresses orletters attesting to the claim from people in authority, such as a doctor or member of the clergy. They say getting those documents can be a challenge if, for example, they moved in with parents or friends initially,or if they did not broadly advertise the breakdown of their marriage.

Even if the documents can be obtained, many of theparents whocontacted CBCtold stories of sending in requested documents only to have them rejected as insufficient.

When the CRA rejectsa parent's declaration, the agencywill then count both parents' incomes when calculating benefits and tax credits. That can lead to reduced benefits and a bill demanding back payments. Similarly, if a parent has trouble proving sole custody of a child, that too can impact benefits and tax credits.

A systemic problem

Itturns out that the challenge to prove they are separated or have custody of their children is a systemic problem for single parents, according to the recently tabled annual report of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman, a government-fundedoffice that operates at arms length to the CRA and promotes accountability to the public.

"The Canada Child Benefit complaints is always in our top five," said Taxpayers' Ombudsman SherraProfit. "It's such a vital benefit to many Canadians who rely on it to feed their children, to pay their rent so it's very serious for a lot of these families."

Complaints to the ombudsman's office resulted in 1,490 files being opened in the 20162017 fiscal year andanother 880 files being opened in the first six months of this fiscal year.

Baxter said she submitted hydro, credit card and insurance documents as well as a sworn affidavit, but was toldIt wasn't enough.

"If I can't get them to accept the documents that I do have, that I legitimately separated from my husband when I say I did...I don't have $20,000 [to pay the CRA back]. I don't even know where I would begin," said Baxter.

Ashley Readgot a letter from the CRA, not just years after her separation, but after she had legally divorced.

The agency demanded proof that the Regina mom was separated between 2014 and 2015.But because it was an amicable split, Read says she does not have a big paper trail of legal documents.

She submitted separation documents and a car insurance policy, but that too was insufficient for the CRA. Her benefits were stopped for a while and her last tax refund was clawed back.

She tried working it out with the CRA.

"I called numerous times and got through one time to one person and she was extremely rude and condescending to me," said Read. "I was in tears on the phone because I was so confused as to what else I could do to prove, because it was true and they didn't believe me."

'We're single parents and that's hard enough'

KamalKhera, Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Revenue,said the Liberal government inheriteda broken, underfunded system.

"First of all, I understand the challenges, especially around this time of year, that some Canadians are going through, and it is completely unacceptable," she toldCBC News. "What I can say is that we as the government are working extremely hard to make improvements to the system."

For Karli Baxter those improvements are not coming soon enough.

"I was a little bit shocked and disgusted that there are that many people going through this," she said, referring to the number of people who contacted CBC with similar issues. "I mean, we're single parents and that's hard enough."