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

SURREY – An Indo-Canadian real estate developer based in Surrey has been sentenced to nine months house arrest, 150 hours of community service, and nearly half-a-million dollars in fines for tax evasion.

The Canada Revenue Agency says Rajinder Singh Mann pleaded guilty in late January for failing to report GST.

Mann is the sole director and shareholder of Millennium Century Investments — and failed to report $462,092 in GST and HST collected on the sale of 44 units in a townhouse complex in Maple Ridge.

All of the units were sold between May 2010 and October 2011.

A CRA investigation determined that Mr. 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.

All case-specific information above was obtained from the court records.

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.