Thousands of P.E.I. tax bills returned to sender 

Marlene Lynch has been living at the same address in Enmore, P.E.I., for more than 40 years.

Every year in May, she'd receive her tax bill in the mail.

But not this year.

Lynch says in late May, she called the provincial tax office to find out why she didn't get her bill. She was informed that Canada Post had returned her bill, along with thousands of others,  because she didn't update her mailing address to include her five-digit civic address.

That change was made last year. 

"I knew the civic address was supposed to be put on all your addresses, any mailing address was supposed to have your civic number on them, but I actually forgot about the taxation bill," said Lynch, adding she had changed the addresses for all her other monthly bills, including her utility bills.

"We've lived here 44 years. We've always got our mail including the property taxes, and I just thought 'Because of one number you don't get your mail? One civic number you don't get your mail?' I was just kind of a little shocked by it, I guess." 

Provincial tax bills are mailed in early May. This year, the bills were mailed out on May 7. 

The first payment was due on May 31. 

'Why government would not have known'

Robert Henderson, the Liberal MLA for O'Leary-Inverness, said his office has been dealing with dozens of complaints from constituents who did not get their tax bill.

Henderson didn't get his tax bill either and was charged a late fee.

"I don't know why government would not have known that when you are sending out a property tax bill, as important of a document as that, that they wouldn't have made sure to have the civic numbers on the bills," said Henderson. 

"I have a lot of constituents that don't have access to computers, don't have access to the information and they still don't know that … the bills haven't arrived." 

Henderson is calling on the province to waive late fees for those whose bills have been returned.

"They did do that for the pandemic, they did waive any late fees," he said. "So I'm not sure why they can't do that in this particular case."

'We get thousands of returned property tax bills'

But provincial tax commissioner Ryan Pineau said that is not going to happen. 

"We don't go searching for a new address; the onus is on the taxpayer to update their address," said Pineau.

"Typically, in an average year, we get thousands of returned property tax bills."

Pineau said he hasn't seen an increase in the number of returned bills this year.

He said taxpayers can reach out to his office by phone, email or through the website for information on how to update their mailing address.

'I just pay it all'

Rachel Millar also didn't get her tax bill. She did get a tax bill for her husband's bait shed at Milligan's Wharf, but not for her house in Freeland. 

Millar called the tax office and she too was told her bill was returned because it didn't have her civic address. 

Now, she's going to be hit with late charges. 

Millar said that's unfair. 

"I'm the type that when the bill comes in I just pay it all. I don't do the monthly installments. I just pay it all," she said.

Canada Post said it's aware of the issue. It said it did notify residents of their new address and offered free mail redirection services for one year. 

"We are aware of the addressing issue with this mailing piece and we are reaching out to our customer. Our local operations team will also continue to monitor this particular mailing," Canada Post said in a statement to CBC News. 

'We've been here for 44 years'

Lynch has updated her mailing address with provincial tax officials but has still not received her bill.

She asked how much she owed over the phone and made the payment at her local credit union so she wouldn't be charged interest.

Her son, who lives nearby, also didn't get his bill. 

"If it were a changed address maybe that would be more understandable," she said.

"We've been here for 44 years and never had a change." 

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