Court finds Mississauga man guilty of failing to report $3M on taxes
Published September 9, 2023 at 11:33 am
A Mississauga man was convicted of tax evasion for failing to report more than $3 million in income.
Kwang Won Lee, of Mississauga, plead guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 for federal income tax evasion on June 27, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) said in a press release.
On Sept. 7, in a Toronto court, Lee was sentenced to a conditional sentence (a sentence of incarceration which is permitted to be served in the community under strict conditions, typically consisting of house arrest) of two years less a day.
He was also fined $999,000.
A CRA investigation revealed that Lee failed to report $3,072,919 in personal income of on his individual income tax returns for the years 2013 to 2016 inclusively, the CRA said.
Lee appropriated these funds from unreported sales and from unreported or un-remitted Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax of Sovereign Staffing Inc. and Talent Savvies Inc., of which he represented himself as the owner, the CRA said.
By doing so, Lee evaded a total of $867,729 in taxes.
Talent Savvies Inc. is listed at 2970 Drew Rd. in Mississauga.
Sovereign Staffing and Talent Savvies provided temporary labour services in the Greater Toronto Area and used multiple bank accounts for their business operations, but only reported one account to the CRA, allowing Lee to appropriate some of the funds from the other bank accounts used, the CRA said.
In addition to court imposed fines and/or jail sentences, convicted taxpayers have to pay the full amount of tax owing, plus related interest and any penalties assessed by the CRA.
Lee was also required to pay $749,963 of the fine upon sentencing with the balance to be paid before Sept. 7, 2025.
Tax evasion investigations can be complex and take years to complete, the CRA said. But those who don’t comply with tax laws place an unfair burden on law-abiding taxpayers and businesses, and jeopardize the integrity of Canada’s tax base.
For more information, see tax evasion, understanding the consequences.
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