After being convicted of four counts of a tax evasion, a Toronto dentist has been fined and given a two-year conditional sentence.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced Thursday that the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto has ordered that Dr. Gerald Vasilakos be fined $175,586, and receive a conditional sentence of two years less a day after he was convicted of tax evasion earlier his year. The fine represents the amount of federal taxes he was found to have evaded through various schemes. He was given 90 days to pay the fine. The conditional sentence, which is served in the community rather than in jail, includes a year of home confinement and 200 hours of community service.
The penalties follow Vasilakos’ conviction by the same court of four counts of tax evasion back on March 7. The CRA reports that its investigation in the case revealed that Vasilakos, the owner and operator of a dental clinic, “used various tax evasion schemes, including a scheme that is based on the faulty premise that the federal government cannot impose a direct tax on a human being, to wilfully avoid paying federal income taxes.”
The CRA says that he produced “fictitious invoices claiming they were for goods and services supplied by a trust that had copyrighted the use of his name”. It notes that the court found that the invoices, which totaled $751,500, “were created solely to substantiate the subcontract fees claimed in order to reduce his taxable income to zero on his 2005 to 2008 income tax returns.”
The agency says that individuals convicted of tax evasion must repay the full amount of taxes owing, plus interest and any civil penalties that may be assessed by the CRA; and, the court may fine them up to 200% of the taxes evaded and impose a jail term of up to five years.
“The overwhelming majority of Canadians pay their taxes in full and on time,” said Vince Pranjivan, the CRA’s acting assistant commissioner for the Ontario region. “In fairness to them, the Canada Revenue Agency makes sure that people who try to avoid paying taxes are held to account.”