Windsor Man Sentenced to Fine And House Arrest For Evading GST

WINDSOR, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 24, 2011) - On August 5, 2010, John Spooner, of Windsor, was found guilty of one count of making false statements and 13 counts of evading the payment of GST. On January 21, 2011, Spooner was sentenced in the Ontario Court of Justice to a fine of $27,000. In addition, Justice Hoffman sentenced Spooner to a conditional sentence of 120 days, to be served in the community. The fine represents 147% of the total federal taxes evaded, resulting in a total of $45,396 in fines and federal taxes owing. 

Spooner, a self-employed sales agent, operated a business in the Windsor area under the name J B & B Enterprises. After a four-day trial that ended on July 15, 2010, Justice Hoffman found that Spooner made false statements on the GST return filed for his businesses, for the quarter ending March 31, 2003, by understating the net GST owed by $1,312. He also found that Spooner failed to file eleven consecutive quarterly GST returns for periods from April 2003 to December 2005, and failed to remit the GST owing for those periods to the CRA. In total, Spooner evaded $18,396 in GST. 

The information in this news release was obtained from the court records. 

When individuals are convicted of income tax and GST evasion, they must still repay the full amount of taxes owing, plus interest and any civil penalties that may be assessed by the CRA. In addition, the court may fine them up to 200% of the taxes evaded and impose a jail term of up to five years.

Individuals who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can still voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They will not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of any compliance action being initiated by the CRA against them. These individuals may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. More information on the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) can be found on the CRA's website at www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

Further information on convictions can also be found in the Media Room on the CRA website at www.cra.gc.ca/convictions.