Canadian woman says after CRA mistakenly declared her dead, she has been 'resurrected'

A B.C. woman was brought back from the dead, so to speak, after she had been reportedly declared deceased by the Canada Revenue Agency. June Miller said the mistake, although now resolved, caused her some distress as she tried to figure out how to navigate the situation, CTV News reported . The 65-year-old resident of Vancouver shared her story in a Facebook post on June 24. “After losing my husband, I was wrongfully declared dead by the CRA,” she said. “They cut off my pension, deactivated my SIN, and now I have no income, no access to support, and just $7 to my name. I can’t even prove I’m alive without documents I can’t afford.”

I never thought I’d have to write something like this. After losing my husband, I was wrongfully declared dead by the...Posted by Juna Miller on Tuesday, June 24, 2025

She decided to start a GoFundMe fundraiser , entitled “CRA Took My Life on Paper — Now I Can’t Pay to Stay Alive.” She raised $870 after less than a week and posted an update on the webpage thanking people for their support. “Your kindness and support have reminded me that there is still humanity in this world, even when the system fails,” she wrote. “Because of your generosity, I’ve found the strength to keep fighting to reclaim my life after being wrongly declared dead by the CRA. Every single dollar you gave is helping me survive while I work to fix what should never have happened.” In an emailed statement to National Post, CRA spokesperson TJ Madigan said the agency cannot comment on specific taxpayer situations. However, in general, he said, situations like these could happen for a variety of reasons, such as human error, a miscommunication from another government department, or an error made when a return is filed on behalf of a deceased person. “Despite safeguards to ensure accuracy of its files, on very rare occasions an individual may erroneously be declared deceased with respect to their records with the Government of Canada,” the statement continued. “The CRA regrets these types of situations and is committed to providing the best possible service to Canadians. We take this seriously and we continue to validate and analyze these errors, and implement changes as necessary, to ensure that, wherever possible, they are prevented.” The agency said it understands that such errors can be “alarming” and have “financial implications.” Last September, after the death of her husband Giorgio, Miller mailed his final tax return in May, Daily Hive reported . She included her own tax return in the same envelope. She said she received a notice of assessment back from the CRA — but it was addressed to “the estate of the late June Miller,” per CTV News. When she went to verify her account online, she said she was locked out. “So I called them and they said, ‘You’re deceased.’ I said, ‘You’re talking to me! Deceased, what are you saying? You have to change that.’ And they said, ‘Well, there’s a process. You have to prove that you’re alive,'” she told CTV News. She provided Service Canada with documents in person that confirmed her identity, as well as a letter from her doctor. She said she was told that, even though she had just retired, she may not receive Canada Pension Plan payments while she was declared dead. She said she also had to apply for a new social insurance number because her old one had been deactivated. On Monday, the CRA and Service Canada called Miller to tell her the issue was resolved . She told CTV News she was “resurrected.” She expects to receive pension payments by the end of this month. “In situations where it is determined that an error was made, the process is to simply remove the date of death from the taxpayer’s file and the taxpayer’s CRA account is restored,” per the CRA’s statement. “This also reverses any letters or changes to taxes or benefits, which were issued in error. The reversal is immediate, though it can sometimes take a few weeks for letters to be re-issued and adjustments to be recalculated.”

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