VANCOUVER — The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced a real estate developer from Surrey, B.C. has been convicted and sentenced of seven counts of GST/HST fraud for failing to remit revenues they collected from the sale of condominiums, according to an April 16 media statement.
A CRA investigation determined the developer contravened the Excise Tax Act by failing to report and remit the GST/HST collected from the sale of 44 units in a Maple Ridge townhouse complex. The 44 units were sold between May 2010 and October 2011.
The developer pleaded guilty on Jan. 29, 2018, in the Provincial Court of British Columbia. They were sentenced to a conditional sentence order of two years less a day, which includes nine months house arrest and 150 hours of community service. They were also given two years to pay the total fine of $462,092, representing 100 per cent of the GST and HST they evaded, the statement said.
The statement noted wilfully failing to follow tax laws could result in such consequences as reassessments, the imposition of civil penalties and criminal tax investigations and prosecutions resulting in the imposition of court fines, jail time and a criminal record.
The court may impose perpetrators up to 200 per cent of the taxes evaded and impose a jail term of up to five years. If convicted of fraud under Section 380 of the Criminal Code, an individual can face up to 14 years in jail.
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