THUNDER BAY, ON, Jan. 24, 2025 /CNW/ - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that Henry Grant Wetelainen (Wetelainen) of Thunder Bay, Ontario, was sentenced in the Thunder Bay Courthouse on January 21, 2025, to a conditional sentence of two years less a day and a fine of $128,101. On June 5, 2023, Wetelainen, as an individual and as a director of 1584859 Ontario Inc., was found guilty of three counts of evading the payment of taxes and one count of making a false statement in his tax returns.
A CRA investigation revealed that 1584859 Ontario Inc. mainly operated as a management company in the mining and mineral exploration industry in the Thunder Bay area under the direction of Wetelainen, the company's sole director and shareholder. 1584859 Ontario Inc. failed to file corporate income tax returns for the tax years ending December 31, 2009, 2010, and 2011, thereby failing to report $367,261 in taxable income. Additionally, the corporation failed to file Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) returns for the period from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2011, inclusive, thereby failing to remit $46,132 in GST/HST collected.
The investigation also revealed that Wetelainen failed to report personal income in the amount of $576,601 on his individual income tax returns for the years 2009 to 2011 inclusive. Wetelainen appropriated these funds for personal use from 1584859 Ontario Inc. and reported nil income on his personal tax returns.
All case-specific information above was obtained from the court records.
The CRA would like to acknowledge the significant contribution of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to this investigation.
In addition to the 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.
Tax evasion is a crime. Falsifying records and claims, wilfully not reporting income, or inflating expenses can lead to criminal charges, prosecution, court imposed fines, jail time, and a criminal record. For the five-year period between April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2024, the courts convicted 135 taxpayers for evading the payment of more than $44 million. As of March 31, 2024, these taxpayers were fined a total of $25.1 million and 58 individuals were sent to jail for a total of more than 108 years.
The CRA is dedicated to maintaining the integrity of Canada's tax system, thereby contributing to the social and economic well-being of Canadians. The CRA continues to aggressively pursue tax evasion, and false claims with all the tools available to it. The CRA works to make sure that individuals and businesses report all income earned and only claim benefits to which they are entitled, so that important benefit programs can be administered to those who need them. Any individual or business who underreports income, or claims losses or benefits to which they are not entitled may have to repay the benefit amounts and may be subject to other possible action.
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Associated links
Reporting suspected tax or benefit cheating in Canada
Voluntary Disclosures Program
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SOURCE Canada Revenue Agency
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