I received a phone message yesterday--normally I wouldn't have retrieved it since I'm out of town, but I thought it might have been Tom, so I did. It wasn't Tom. It was a lady from the Canadian version of the IRS. She had questions to ask me pertaining to some stuff another lady from there had asked me months ago about a previous employer of mine. I called the lady back today and long story short, she wants me to testify in court.
gulp.
She asked. She said my previous employer is appealing a ruling and based on the answers i gave to the first lady, my testimony would be important to their case. So, she asked if I would be willing to testify.
I told her I'd call her tomorrow and let her know. I've been mulling it over all afternoon. I think the case hinges around money my previous employer might owe because they listed me as an independent contractor and canada revenue thinks, based on answers i gave to questions they asked me months ago, that i was an employee. as such, my previous employer must owe them money or something.
I don't want to get my previous employer in shit--on the other hand if they are lying to the cra, then that's not good. i don't know what the right thing to do is. i was wondering too how this possible could come back and bite me in the ass if i refused to testify and they didn't issue as subpoena. would there be some kind of black mark on my file, with regards to taxes and such? would they find a way to do something slimy?
but then remembering Matlock (the tv show haha), they would probably issue me a subpoena if i am such an important witness and they are just giving me the choice first. if i say no, they'll probably order me right? so it's probaby just best to say yes now...
right?
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Summoned
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5 comments:
definatly yes. as much as i would hate to get one of my ex bosses in the soup, if he's doing dirty than thats tween him and the cra. noi use getting them to look harder at you. at least thats how it would work here. you canadians seem nicer than us though so maybe your govt wont strong arm you like mine would.
I would want to do just for the experience of it - I've never been to court for any reason. It seems benign enough, you just answer some questions truthfully to the best of your ability - what harm would there be in that?
Yep, I agree with Phil & Ghost. My boss is going through a similar situation with a company that he conducts research for. At first he refused, but the lawyers tracked him down and sent a subpoena.
Better to go ahead and get it out of the way, I think.
if it is the employee / contractor issue then you know why they wanted you guys to be contractors and not employees - they couldnt afford employees. and you guys agreed in large part because you believed in the cause - you wanted this alternative to public education to get off the ground - you wanted to help. now it seems the government is getting sticky on technicalities. do these auditors get bonuses on how much extra money they can bring in?
yes, its important to protect one's own ass, but even that ass might eventually get hurt because no one would stand up to the ignorant bully, and things only got more and more out of hand.
good heavens.... and here I thought I was the only one who watched Matlock.
all kidding aside, go for it, and tell the truth. you're not the one in trouble here, you're just providing material.
good luck.
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