A small business owner who failed to report a significant amount of income and pay federal taxes will pay a heavy price for his indiscretions.
Sean Dube, 38, who owns a Sudbury-based cleaning and maintenance business, pleaded guilty Tuesday to failing to report almost $160,000 in income between 1999 and 2003.
This means the federal government didn?t receive almost $40,000 in income and excise tax.
Justice Peter Coulson agreed to impose a fine in the amount of $32,000, or 80 percent of the amount of taxes owed to the government, against Dube.
Coulson told Dube most people don?t have the choice on whether or not they want to report income or pay taxes because their employer takes care of
that.
It?s up to independent business owners to report all income and pay their taxes ?just like everyone else? or face serious consequences if they are
caught, said the veteran judge.
Court heard Dube formulated a complicated scheme where he would use the same invoice number to complete different transactions, but only report one transaction to his automated accounting system.
When the Canada Revenue Agency conducted an audit, they discovered almost 500 illegal transactions had taken place over the four-year period.
Court heard Dube failed to report just under $157,000 in income during this time and thus failed to report $31,000 in federal income tax and another $9,000 in excise tax.
Court heard that during a civil proceeding, Dube repaid all of the back taxes as well as a heavy fine and interest.
The additional $32,000 imposed by the criminal court will show this accused that it?s a very serious crime to hide income and not pay taxes, said Coulson.
Dube will be given one year to repay the heavy fine levied against him.
