Northern NB tax preparer fined $275,186 and sentenced to house arrest on tax fraud charges

Edmundston, New Brunswick, November 13, 2009... Daniel Paradis, a local tax preparer, was fined $275,196 and sentenced to a conditional term of two years less a day of house arrest after being convicted of multiple counts of tax evasion, Thursday, November 12 in Edmundston Provincial Court. He was ordered to pay the fine within five years, in installments of at least $25,000 per year, or face up to five years in prison. He must also give up his tax business and will only be permitted to prepare tax returns for himself or his spouse.

On September 24, 2009, he had pleaded guilty to 86 charges of tax evasion under the Income Tax Act and 46 charges under the Tax Rebate Discounting Act for claiming or obtaining $252,196 in false income tax refunds. He originally faced 258 counts; 162 under the Income Tax Act and 96 under the Tax Rebate Discounting Act.

Paradis committed the fraud while operating a tax preparation business under the H&R Block banner in Edmundston, NB. A Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) investigation revealed that he filed fraudulent 2004 and 2005 income tax returns for 65 clients and obtained fraudulent income tax refunds in excess of 250,000.

The preceding information was obtained from the court records.

Taxpayers who claim false expenses, credits or rebates from the government are subject to serious consequences. They are liable not only for corrections to their tax returns and payment of the full amount of tax owing, but also to penalties and interest. In addition, if convicted of tax evasion, the court may fine them up to 200% of the tax evaded and sentence them for up to a five-year jail term.

Schemes involving false or inflated charitable donation receipts and tax preparer fraud are both being investigated as part of Project Trident, a CRA-wide enforcement project that helps protect the tax base by prosecuting key players in fraudulent tax schemes and reassessing related tax returns. Project Trident targets three types of fraud: identity theft, charities-related fraud, and tax preparer fraud. For more information, visit http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/trdnt/menu-eng.html.

Further information on convictions can also be found in the Media room on the CRA website at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/convictions/index.html.