Tuesday, November 8, 2011

What's Cooking @ Woodland Pizza ......Whatever it is,The Taxman is Providing the Heat

Well as the Beatles song said, "If you try to walk,they will Tax your Feet,.....If you try to Sit they will Tax your Seat"....it's the Tax Man,.....Now it seems they will Tax Your Eats...Regardless if you remember this place as Woodland or Whites, it seems the taxman is picking a fight ,& could kill their biz,..........

MONTREAL - Overzealous Revenue Quebec restaurant inspectors have given a $2,500 fine to a local pizzeria owner for not having updated his cash registers with sales-recording-modules (SRMs), The Gazette has learned.

They also threatened that unless he had them installed within 14 days, the fine would grow to $14,000.

But the restaurant owner says they completely ignored the fact he had a signed contract with a Revenue Quebec-approved company to install the equipment by the Nov. 1 deadline and that it was the installer who had erred.

"They don't care if you have a contract with somebody or not," said John Xenos, the owner of Restaurant Woodland, a Verdun pizzeria that has been serving the local community for more than 40 years.

"So what am I supposed to do? Every day I call (the installer)."

We're trying our best, but I don't know if they are going to come before next Tuesday."

Xenos said he is willing to spend the $27,000 needed to purchase and install new cash registers and SRMs - and that he has been trying to do so for months.

In August, a Revenue Quebec-accredited installer attempted to set up a new cash register and SRM system in the restaurant, he said.

But the company couldn't get the system to work, so they removed the equipment and gave him back his $7,000 deposit.

"They could not do the job," Xenos said.

The same month, he signed a contract with a second Revenue Quebec-certified installer, who promised to install the equipment before Nov. 1, and he paid an $8,000 deposit to the company.

He is still waiting.

After receiving the fine, Xenos said he tried calling Revenue Quebec to explain his situation, but the response he received was not sympathetic.

"They said: 'You had two years to do it. Why did you wait until the last three months?' "

A Revenue Quebec spokesperson told The Gazette that the fine should not have been levied if the owner had a signed contract.

As of Nov. 1, all restaurant owners in the province have been required to use SRMs that are connected to a compatible cash register or computerized point-of-sale system and printer. The new SRM receipts include a bar code that can be scanned by a Revenue Quebec inspector.

Restaurants that fail to do so face fines of up to $100,000 - and a maximum six-month prison sentence.

Xenos said in addition to the stress caused by the $2,500 fine, customers have been asking why his restaurant doesn't give out SRM receipts.

      ...................................................HF&RV


12 comments:

Les F said...

have fun and remember Verdun

Guy Billard said...

I have no pity for the restaurants who have not yet adhered to the new system. They have been aware that they had to give a receipt showing the tax to every customer for months and don't believe the owner of
Woodland Pizza.
I noticed long ago that the waitresses/waiters did not give a receipt in many restaurants and charged the tax anyway, wich means that they put the money in teir pocket and don't declare the revenue so as not to pay income tax.
I blame the governement for not cracking down a long time ago although they knew that they where deprived of over 300 million dollars a year.in taxes.

Guy

Les F said...

I have to somewhat disagree with thinking a Govt' is deprived in anyway,of the 300 million (their figures) all the while knowingly paying bribes in the form of kickbacks to large corporations to the tune of (& this is what they have been caught doing) over a BILLION dollars, yet they feel the 'need' to close local public pools & cut back on anything ,for the people, but they fight tooth & nail, to not be scrutinised over their 'over spending ' on all capital projects........... rather like being 'Penny Wise & Dollar Stupid'
reminds me of the bumper sticker saying:
"Don't Steal,----------------the Govt' Hates the Competition"
ps: In the case of Woodland Restatuarant ,I cannot feel too sorry for a restaurant that can afford ,what amounts to being a cash register connected to a printer for $27,000 ? Are you kidding me.....
However as long as the restauranteur acted within the proper time frame,regardless of acting towards the last 3 months of the deadline,at least they acted within the designated timeline,...so since they contracted to a Quebec Approved installer & they could not do the job,at all in one case & not in time in the other, then I would say the Govt' is indeed acting overzealously............I would also suggest that we will see the 'fine' changed drastically,if not forgiven completely ,......time will tell.
Let's not forget that taxation is extremely high to start with, & instead of Govt's getting their Spending Under Control,.they just go back to the people & pick their pockets for more.
If we all handled our own checkbooks the way the Govt. thinks they should handle theirs, we would all be in Jail......Try this for one year just write cheques for everything & don't pay the bills .pay the new bill with another cheque.......Spend way more than you have in cash then ,spend against your present assets,and then spend against your 'future' earnings.....My guess is you don't get very far ,before someone (your bank, credit card agency,) puts a very quick stop to it.........So as I do see & understand your point, I respectfully disagree with it being a Govt deprived.

Guy Billard said...

Two wrongs don't make one right.

Les F said...

I agree, so let's 'correct' the first wrong. Govt over spending
& as far as I can see the restaurant did nothing wrong ,they responded within the alloted time frame,the Govt' approved agent was at best incompetent..............not the restaurants fault, & the Govt's 2nd agent contracted to do the job,couldn't do it in time,.So either the Govt' did not allow for their approved agents time to do a job correctly,(incompetence again) then they should have had an earlier deadline for a business to get things done, with a known inspection date of Nov 1st,......not start fining as of Nov 1st,
they will lose that one in court ,if what's being reported is true.
So since in this case their seems to be only one wrong ,.not two,all fault lying back with the Govt;s incompetence,. not the business owner's,
Two wrongs - one wrong = one wrong. Cheers ! HF&RV

Les F said...

This reminds me of the Chinese couple named Wong who wanted desperatley to have a baby,but after years of trying finally the woman became pregnant,& when the baby was born they saw that it was a black baby,..........so they named him Sum Ting Wong................or so the story goes...

Guy Billard said...

Its time to go to bed.

Les F said...

Bon Nuit(Soir) Guy................ HF&RV

Sandy Walsh said...

I see someone put the name of the restaurant up "wong" - Restaurant Woodland? Oh no wait, the government made them do that - haha

Les F said...

I think that's the 'white' answer isn't it ? --lol
Nice to see you Sandy how's NYC ?

..for those who don't know, Woodland used to be White's many moons ago,However that would be White s (no apostrophe allowed nowadays,it's a culture killer)-----lol Cheers ! HF&RV -Les

Sandy Walsh said...

haha - good answer :) NYC is fine these days - just need to send those OWS peeps packing so merchants, etc. in the area can get back to normal - disgusting what is going on - but it seems to be happening everywhere - not just here - the lunatics are running the asylum - that is just plain wong.

Still shaking my head over the story in the Gazette this morning about the Mexican family who are being forced to rip their three kids out of English schools in Montreal - again - it's just plain wong. Whatever happened to the Freedom that our armed forces have and are fighting for?

Les F said...

It is happening everywhere,we've got our share of nutbars here in Victoria too,one threw a bottle of urine at a city worker yesterday,because he was trying to get this nut's bicycle down from the tree he was living in,& had his bike dangling from....
Now I think the whole Occupy thing has some merit ,with the peaceful opposition to global robbery of everyone,however as in most protest's, Nuts move in & create problems then there are some that just plain move in to the parks,.then they wonder why the general public starts to tire of the stupidity & antics ,of the few who spoil it for the many.
-----------Lunacy Abounds it seems............................. HF&RV