Mississauga business owner jailed and fined for tax evasion

Brampton, Ontario, July 11, 2013...The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that, on December 21, 2012, a jury found Najam Mahmood of Mississauga, Ontario, guilty of four counts of evading personal income taxes and four counts of failing to remit the Goods and Services Tax (GST). On July 5, 2013, Mahmood, was sentenced, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Brampton, to one year in jail and a fine of $687,000 for having evaded federal income taxes of $475,000.

The CRA investigation revealed that Mahmood, who owned Monetary Investment Group (MIG), a company that provided courses on Foreign Currency Exchange (FOREX) trading, from 2003 to 2006, transferred in excess of $200,000 to his personal FOREX trading accounts in the US, directed some of his students to wire course payments to his personal US bank account and withdrew over $1 million in cash from his many bank accounts. The CRA investigation also revealed that Mahmood did not file his 2003 to 2006 income tax returns and failed to report $3.1 million thus evading $358,588 in income taxes. In addition, Mahmood, failed to register his business for the purpose of collecting GST, but collected $116,412 in GST from his clients and never remitted any of the funds to the CRA.

The information in this news release was obtained from the court records.

“Canadian taxpayers must have confidence in the fairness of the tax system,” said Darrell Mahoney, Assistant Commissioner, Ontario Region, CRA. “To maintain that confidence, the Canada Revenue Agency is determined to hold tax evaders accountable for their actions.”

When taxpayers are convicted of income tax and GST evasion, they still must repay the full amount of taxes owing, plus interest and any civil penalties that may be assessed by the CRA. In addition, the court may fine them up to 200% of the taxes evaded and impose a jail term of up to five years.

Taxpayers who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can still voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They may not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of any compliance action being initiated by the CRA against them. These taxpayers may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. More information on the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) can be found on the CRA's Web site at www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

Further information on convictions can also be found in the Media Room on the CRA website at
www.cra.gc.ca/convictions .

Canada Revenue Agency

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