The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced that, on February 24, 2021, Michael Curt Helmut Scholz, of West Vancouver, was sentenced to 29 months in jail and fined $644,975.71.
On June 18 last year, Scholz was found guilty of three counts of committing tax-related offences under the Excise Tax Act and two counts of uttering forged documents under the Criminal Code, in the Provincial Court of British Columbia.
A CRA investigation revealed that Scholz submitted forged documents to obtain benefits relating to the construction of a West Vancouver home.
Scholz forged a bare trust agreement to conceal the property’s true ownership and to support his claim of ineligible input tax credits related to the costs for the residence’s construction and design.
Scholz also forged a lease agreement to decrease the CRA’s assessed value of the property in an attempt to reduce taxes owed.
Tax evasion is a crime, CRA reminds.
“Falsifying records and claims, willfully not reporting income, or inflating expenses can lead to criminal charges, prosecution, jail time, and a criminal record,” CRA reminds.
From April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, there were 32 convictions, with 13 taxpayers sent to jail for a total of 18.5 years. These individuals were sentenced for willfully evading payment of $7,427,090 in tax.
