Bea MacDonald of Hammonds Plains, N.S. was fined $25,126 in Halifax Provincial Court after pleading guilty to three charges of tax evasion under the Income Tax Act and Excise Tax Act.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) laid the charges after an investigation showed that MacDonald had falsified business expenses totalling approximately $68,000 on tax returns for 2004 and 2005, says CRA. By claiming these false expenses against her real estate commissions, MacDonald evaded $10,998 in federal income tax. She also made false statements with respect to quarterly Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) returns for the 2004 and 2005 tax years, evading a further $9,617 in taxes. The fine represents over 120 per cent of the taxes MacDonald attempted to evade, says the agency.
The Crown Attorney described the great lengths that MacDonald took to cover up her tracks after she was first approached by CRA auditors in 2006. She requested to have original invoices re-issued from a vendor, in her name only, even though she shared the expense amounts equally with her real estate partner. She also cut off the top of over 100 receipts to conceal the locations and claimed personal expenses as business expenses, says CRA.
In Kitchener, Ont., Janette Graf, a real estate agent, was found guilty of three counts of failing to file her 2004 to 2006 personal income tax returns. She was fined $1,200 per count by Judge J.T. Lynch for a total fine of $3,600. The fine is in addition to any taxes and interest owed, as well as any civil penalties that may be assessed by the CRA. All outstanding returns were filed after the CRA laid charges.
Anna Simionato of Toronto pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto to five counts of failing to file GST returns. She was fined $1,000 per count for a total of $5,000. Simionato was given 12 months to pay the fines.
Simionato, who operated as a commissioned real estate agent, failed to file GST returns for various reporting periods from October 1, 1996 to December 31, 2000. The CRA made several requests for the missing returns before serving Simionato with a notice demanding that the returns be filed. Failure to comply with the notice resulted in charges being laid. All outstanding GST returns were filed after the CRA laid charges, says the agency.
