The Social Insurance Number Act states that a person鈥檚 SIN should only be given out to a government or public body that has the legal authority to request it. With respect to the sa国际传媒 Speculation and Vacancy Tax Act, the provincial government apparently does not have this legal authority, otherwise it would have been provided to me upon my request to the Ministry of Finance.
The Social Insurance Number Act contains lists of those governments and public bodies that have authority to request a person鈥檚 SIN for a specific reason, e.g., the sa国际传媒 government can ask for a SIN with respect to GST/HST, social services programs and the sa国际传媒 Child Benefit.
However, with respect to the sa国际传媒 Speculation and Vacancy Tax Act, there is no legal authority cited in the act itself. In fact there is no reference to the SIN at all.
In a recent email with the Ministry of Finance, I was informed the federal government hasn鈥檛 updated its web page yet with respect to the legal authority, because it鈥檚 鈥渘ew.鈥�
I asked for a copy of the document, but the ministry didn鈥檛 provide it and instead informed me that if I didn鈥檛 provide my declaration along with my SIN by end of March, I would be invoiced for taxes owing, despite the fact that I reside in my home and have declared such to the local municipal government every year in order to receive the homeowner鈥檚 grant.
David Antrobus
Victoria
