Tax preparer sentenced to house arrest and fine

Burlington, Ontario, December 3, 2015… The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that on December 1, 2015 Ekue Kueviakoe (also known as Thierry Kueviakoe), of Oakville, Ontario, was sentenced in the Ontario Court of Justice in Burlington, Ontario to a 12-month conditional sentence, including  eight months house arrest, and a fine of $70,365.  On January 21, 2015, Kueviakoe pleaded guilty to 82 counts of participating in the making of false statements in the income tax returns of individuals to obtain or claim unwarranted tax credits and refunds. He also pleaded guilty to four counts of tax evasion. The fine represents 100% of the total taxes evaded.

A CRA investigation revealed that Kueviakoe, a tax preparer and operator of Jireh Tax Services, claimed fraudulent charitable donations and employment expenses on 431 tax returns for the 2004 and 2005 taxation years.  In particular, Kueviakoe claimed approximately $235,641 in false charitable donations and $25,637 in false employment expenses on his clients’ e-filed tax returns. By doing so, Kueviakoe assisted his clients in either avoiding payment of taxes or receiving unwarranted refunds totaling approximately $140,000.

The preceding information was obtained from the court records.

“Tax evasion costs all of us,” said Vince Pranjivan, Assistant Commissioner of the CRA’s Ontario Region. “The job of our investigators and auditors is to make sure that all Canadians pay the tax they owe.”

When taxpayers are convicted of income tax and GST/HST 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. If they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of any compliance action being initiated by the CRA against them, they may not be penalized or prosecuted. 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.

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For media information:

Paul N Murphy
Manager, Communications
(416) 952-8105

Date modified:

2015-12-03