| A recent IRS release about fraudulent tax preparers | | | | convicted of tax evasion they must still repay the full |
| should have Canadians being weary as well. Since | | | | amount of taxes owing, any amounts fraudulently |
| 2009, 19 Canadian tax preparers have been assessed | | | | obtained, plus interest and any civil penalties that may |
| nearly $1.7 million in third-party penalties with audits of | | | | be assessed by the CRA. If convicted, the court may |
| 15 additional tax preparers still under way. These tax | | | | fine them up to 200% of the federal tax evaded or |
| preparers have been identified by the Canada | | | | false refunds claimed and sentence them to a jail term |
| Revenue Agency as a group that is a more likely risk | | | | of up to two years. |
| of tax non-compliance, which means they overstate | | | | Schemes involving false or inflated charitable donation |
| credits and deductions, understate earnings and often | | | | receipts and tax preparer fraud are both being |
| charge more for their services or attempt to skim | | | | investigated as part of Project Trident, a CRA-wide |
| additional money from clients. If caught, not only does | | | | enforcement project that helps protect the tax base |
| the tax preparer receive harsh penalties, so do their | | | | by prosecuting key players in fraudulent tax schemes |
| clients, usually in the form of fraud and interest | | | | and reassessing related tax returns. Project Trident |
| penalties if there is money owing for the taxation year. | | | | targets three types of fraud: identity theft, charities |
| In the conviction section of the CRA's website, the | | | | related fraud, and tax preparer fraud. |
| legal department states: "When individuals are | | | | |