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Stuart J
Stuart J, Solicitor
Category: Family Law
Satisfied Customers: 22805
Experience:  Senior Partner at Berkson Wallace
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I have been receiving spousal support since 2004 from my ex

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Hi. I have been receiving spousal support since 2004 from my ex who lives in Canada. I received a phone call this morning, from The International Tax Office in Canada saying that I owe them £29,886.04 for tax arrears on the spousal support I’ve received. I never knew that I had to pay tax on my support. Thanks, Caroline
JA: What steps have you taken? Have you filed any papers in family court?
Customer: Nothing as yet, it was this morning
JA: Have you talked to a lawyer about this yet?
Customer: No
JA: Anything else you want the Lawyer to know before I connect you?
Customer: Don’t think so
Customer: replied 1 month ago.
(Posted by JustAnswer at customer's request) Hello. I would like to request the following Expert Service(s) from you: Live Phone Call.
Customer: replied 1 month ago.
Let me know if you need more information, or send me the service offer(s) so we can proceed.

Are you absolutely certain this is a genuine phone call?

The reason I mention it is that tax offices don’t normally make telephone calls, they put it in writing and spousal maintenance is paid from post-tax income not pre-tax income.

If they call again, thank them for the telephone call and ask them to put it in writing. If they don’t have the address, tell them that they are going to need to get that but don’t give it to them.

Only when you get an official letter which you can then verify would I start to do anything with this because I cannot see for one moment how you could possibly owe this.

If you could please rate my service five stars (even if it’s not the answer you wanted) that would be really helpful. If you have any further questions you want to ask on this subject, I am happy to deal with those for you.

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Customer: replied 1 month ago.
Hi Stuart, thank you for your reply. I’ve checked online and it appears legit, unfortunately. The call was from The Canadian Tax Office who added that they will be sending written info to me (5 working days). I was totally unaware that I had to pay tax on the spousal support payments that I receive, if u had been aware I would have paid it over the years. I haven’t received any written notices, Rod, the caller, admitted that this case has slipped through the net and not been addressed properly earlier than now. He said that I can appeal against this as I didn’t know at all that I had to pay tax on the spousal support with not receiving notices of assessment and that there has been no effort on their behalf to recoup the money til now. The money owing covers the time period from 2004-2008 ( I think) and he said there would be potentially more owing from the remainder of the time from 2008 til now. I’ll wait to see what paperwork arrives from him but I am thinking this is genuine. Really need some help. Thank you, Caroline Metcalf