• March 29, 2024

Brampton tax preparer sentenced, fined for 100 fake returns

A Brampton tax preparer has been handed a conditional sentence of two years less a day and fined close to $100,000 for filing 100 fraudulent tax returns, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Ajay Sharma pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 on Sept. 25, 2017. He was sentenced April 27, according to the CRA.

A CRA investigation revealed Sharma owned and ran S & S Associates and between 2009 and 2012 he prepared 100 fraudulent tax returns for 37 clients, according to a CRA news release. Sharma created fake business losses totaling $2.6 million when he prepared the false returns. Those returns resulted in the evasion or attempted evasion of federal tax payments totaling $488,178.

Sharma pocketed $96,946 from the scam by charging his clients a percentage of the tax refunds they received, according to the CRA in quoting court records.