Tax preparer who made $2.9 million in false claims to be sentenced

EDMONTON Crown prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to 10 years for an Edmonton tax preparer who has been found guilty of filing millions of dollars in false tax claims on behalf of unwitting clients.

On the opening day of a two-day sentencing hearing for Chander Mohan Sharma, Crown counsel Erin Eacott on Tuesday outlined a long list of aggravating factors against the 58-year-old who was convicted of one count of defrauding the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) of more than $5,000 late last month.

Provincial court Judge Joyce Lester found Sharma was responsible for about $2.9 million in false claims on Aug.31.

During the trial, court heard this resulted in about $565,000 of fraud in the form of tax revenue owed to the Government of Canada.

Sharma is said to have personally pocketed about $300,000 from his clients.

Court heard Sharma filed false or inflated expenses on behalf of 11 clients when he submitted both professional and personal income tax returns for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Sharma’s clients, whose education level ranged from post-secondary to illiteracy, all believed he was an “experienced, qualified professional.”

Court heard that although Sharma told the clients his fee was 50 percent of any refund received, he also indicated he would go through their old tax returns, up to 10 years back, and recover money that they were owed.

S harm a then filed expenses related to self-employment, employment and farming that were either inflated or “wholly fictitious.”

Eacott told court Tuesday that Sharma’s tax fraud scheme had caused “horrific and irreversible” damage to his clients, some of whom were left in debt to the CRA anywhere between $19,000 to $150,000 and which forced several people to declare bankruptcy and others to lose their businesses.

Two of Sharma’s former clients were left living on the streets for a brief period.

Court heard Sharma concealed the disbursement of proceeds of his fraud by depositing most of the money into his mother’ s bank account and no this own or the tax business he ran.

During 2010 to 2014 Sharma “funnelled” close to $800,000 out of Canada to India through another company of which he was the sole director.

During the same period he bought three apartments in India, Eacott said.

As a former accountant, he was very aware of the criminal act he was committing and he’s yet to take responsibility for his actions, show remorse or acknowledge the harm he has done to his clients, Eacott told court.

She also pointed to the fact some of the tax fraud cases were committed while he was on a temporary absence permit from jail for a previous fraud conviction and filing those returns was in direct contravention to his release conditions.

He also “feigned a mental disorder” to avoid sentencing and spent two months in hospital, Eacott said.

On top of the eight-year-to-10-year prison sentence, the Crown is also seeking a $300,000 fine and close to $300,000 in restitution for 10 of the 11 clients.

Eacott argued any sentence must be a “denunciation and general deterrence” for Sharma and others, adding that over the past 10 years, 55 tax preparers have been convicted nationally and collectively fined $4.6 million.

Sharma’s lawyer, Paul Moreau, is expected to offer his closing arguments Wednesday morning.