The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced Thursday that two Montrealers were sentenced on March 9 to four years in jail after being found guilty of leading a tax-evasion scheme involving the “tax protester” movement.
Pierre Cardin and Jean-Marc Paquin were both found guilty last Dec. 21 of one count of fraud under the Criminal Code following a 20-week jury trial in Superior Court of Quebec in Laval.
According to the CRA, an investigation revealed that between May 2010 and May 2011 Cardin and Paquin, who were part of a group related to tax protesters, advised and enabled 49 individuals to evade or to try to evade a total of $1,057,880 in federal income tax by claiming non-deductible losses against their taxable income.
The CRA says the scheme was based on an argument made by tax protesters, “which Canadian courts have repeatedly and consistently rejected.”
The CRA says that participating in a tax protester scheme can have serious consequences, including criminal prosecution, jail time and fines.
The federal agency notes that between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2020, 88 tax protesters were convicted of tax offences related to tax schemes, leading to a total of $8.24 million in court-imposed fines and 100 years of jail time.
