Ok, so you make some rather large ‘mistakes’ on your tax return, and you end up owing the government a lot of money. What’s the worst that could happen? It seems to depend in part on the amounts involved. See R. v. MacNeil, 2009 NSCA 46, where the taxpayer was initially convicted of making false or deceptive statements, which is an offence under section 239 of the Income Tax Act. (The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ended up ordering a new trial in the case.)
Or suppose you have your corporation pay some of your personal expenses and those of your adult children? That’s not so bad, right? “Everybody does it.“ The Alberta Queen’s Bench thinks differently: it recently upheld a custodial sentence for taxpayers convicted of receiving the benefits of those payments in R. v. Alberta Hot Oil Services Ltd., 2009 ABQB 11, even though the total tax evaded was only about $66,000. According to the Court “offences involving the evasion of tax and the making of false statements are serious offences which should attract terms of imprisonment” (at ¶23).
