Jean Marc Vaillancourt of Chelmsford was found guilty of tax evasion in an Ontario Court of Justice in Sudbury on July 18, said a Canada Revenue Agency news release.
He was fined $35,486 which represents 70 percent of the federal income taxes and GST he sought to evade.
Vaillancourt, 43, who operates a taxi business known as Starlite Taxi and/or Azilda Starlite Taxi, was fined for understating his income by $193,851 on his 2001 to 2003 personal income tax returns and quarterly GST returns. In doing so, he sought to evade federal taxes of $33,074 and GST of $17,622.
Documentation obtained as a result of a search warrant revealed that Vaillancourt did not record all sales invoices from service contracts and taxi fares in the accounting records of the taxi operation. Further analysis of business and personal banking information revealed that in 2003 the family reported income of $1,796 to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). However, personal expenses for that same year amounted to $51,059. Similar scenarios were discovered in 2001 and 2002.
Vaillancourt's accountant unknowingly prepared personal income tax returns based on incomplete financial statements.
In cases of gross negligence, the Income Tax Act and Excise Tax Act allow the CRA to assess a penalty of up to 50 percent of the unpaid tax or the improperly claimed benefit. In addition, the court may, on summary conviction, fine someone 50 percent to 200 percent of the tax evaded and sentence them to a jail term of up to two years.
