Ontario's Real Estate Millionaires Owe $423 Million In Taxes!

In British Columbia, CRA auditors found that 54 per cent of the unpaid taxes came from not paying GST, while 45 per cent was from income tax. Recently, a well known Indo-Canadian builder from Surrey was convicted for not paying GST. Rajinder Singh Mann of Millennium Century Investments pleaded guilty in late January for failing to report $462,092 in GST and HST collected on the sale of 44 units in a townhouse complex in Maple Ridge. Mann has been sentenced to nine months house arrest, 150 hours of community service, and nearly half-a-million dollars in fines for tax evasion.

By PD Raj

With News Files From StarMetro website

VANCOUVER— Real estate millionaires are not paying their taxes and according to the Canada Revenue Agency, BC and Ontario make up nearly $600 million in unpaid taxes to the Agency.

CRA has levied $47 million in penalties for the same period.

In B.C. alone, $169 million in unpaid taxes were related to real estate transactions and income tax, the agency found. In Ontario, whose population is three times greater than B.C.’s, that number was $423 million, reported StarMetro website.

“I am delighted,” said Richard Kurland, a Vancouver immigration lawyer who for years has lobbied for more scrutiny of real estate transactions, as well as several immigration programs that were directed toward wealthy investors.

“It’s a reasonable representation,” he said of the amount of unpaid taxes, “but I don’t think it tells the whole picture at all.”

The federal agency began examining real estate transactions more closely starting in 2015, and says there continue to be “compliance risks” in real estate transactions in the heated Vancouver and Toronto markets.

In British Columbia, CRA auditors found that 54 per cent of the unpaid taxes came from not paying GST, while 45 per cent was from income tax.

Recently, a well known Indo-Canadian builder from Surrey was convicted for not paying GST. Rajinder Singh Mann of Millennium Century Investments pleaded guilty in late January for failing to report $462,092 in GST.

Mann has been sentenced to nine months house arrest, 150 hours of community service, and nearly half-a-million dollars in fines for tax evasion.

A CRA investigation determined that Mann contravened the Excise Tax Act by failing to report and remit the GST/HST collected from the sale of 44 units in a Maple Ridge townhouse complex, built by Millenium. All 44 units were sold between May 2010 and October 2011.

Wilfully failing to follow tax laws could result in serious consequences, including reassessments, the imposition of civil penalties and criminal tax investigations and prosecutions resulting in the imposition of court fines, jail time and a criminal record.

When taxpayers are convicted of 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. If convicted of fraud under Section 380 of the Criminal Code, an individual can face up to 14 years in jail.

In Ontario, 90 per cent of the unpaid taxes were related to homebuyers not paying the GST, which is required on all newly built homes in Canada, as well as GST on other real estate transactions.

In a statement, CRA staff said a number of factors increase the risk of tax evasion in the country’s two hottest real estate markets, including a questionable source of funds to buy properties, property flipping, unreported GST, unreported capital gains and unreported worldwide income, reported StarMetro .