Well, went home for lunch today and found a surprise in the mail - a cheque for $1,000 from the Ontario Sales Tax office, a retail sales tax rebate for purchasing a hybrid vehicle. Thing is, I already got my refund from them 3 months ago!

Now, they originally told me that my submission was lost, so I had to resubmit. I did so with a letter indicating that it was a resubmission. I have to assume that they processed it again in error.

Of course, I could play dumb. They raised the refund limit to $2,000 in February, so I could just assume that they decided to make it retroactive and send another $1,000 to people that got the original refund.

Or, I could be stupid, and call them to alert them of the error, and rip up the cheque.

Another option is to deposit the cheque in my high-interest savings account, and just let it collect interest until I am sure that they haven't noticed the error.

Decisions, decisions...

Basher,

As tempting as it would be to keep the cheque, I suspect they could and would file criminal charges. At least I believe they would in the US. Then you'd be stuck with additional fees as well.

Of course since you are dealing with bureaucracy, one never knows what might happen.

Good luck with whatever decision you go with.

Mike

Contact the local tax office.

Never mess with the ones who collect taxes.