I evaded paying my income taxes because of my accountant's fraud. Can I fix the situation?

My accountant who had full authorization to my finances (in short) attached a number of trades to my account - and my income taxes became huge (hundreds of thousands of dollars). I tried to work it out with verification and enforcement division, but because my health was getting effected I decided to leave the country and all the drama behind me. I found out later that my accountant was jailed and convicted with fraud that he did on several other people like me.

If I return to Canada, would I be able to work with revenue Canada on this problem without having to pay for courts/lawyers and all the drama that has accumulated because of my accountant's actions?

Is it a jailable offence to just leave without dealing with the problems of Revenue Canada?

leaving in the middle of this crisis may be percieved by the CRA as an admission of guilt. Ensure you can find a good lawyer to negotiate on your behalf with the CRA, and that the issue is resolved before you return to Canada.

I don't know if its a criminal offence to have left.

You need to call a tax lawyer and work through him.

yeah contact a tax lawyer, heres a good one or he can refer you.

www.888taxdeal.com/

Oh what a mess, I'm so sorry for you. It is dreadful when an innocent party suffers because of another persons' guilt. You need to contact a lawyer who specialises in tax law and let him advise you, he should also make contact with revenue Canada on your behalf. I think you will have to pay for his services, but you are the innocent party here and I am sure revenue Canada would rather resolve this out of court. It is a shame you didn't know that fraudster was being taken to court, he could have had this added to the charge which would probably have been better for you. I hope this can be resolved for you, good luck.

If you return to Canada to face this problem. You could possibly work it out with CRA without involving lawyers. I would get whatever doctors notes that you have to vouch for your ill health, re-approach CRA and ask to fix things up. Bring in the information to show whatever the correct returns should have been and state that you are willing to work with the collections group to pay back whatever taxes and interest (yes, there will be interest) you owe.

Leaving the country in the first place was not the best decision to make, but...it's up to you now what you do. It would probably go better for you if you took the first step.

The penalizing provisions in the Income Tax Act do include jail terms, but by taking that first step toward fixing the problem would go a long way toward not having these applied in your case.

Hope that helps and good luck.

The penalties and interest are one thing, and the tax is another. There is fairness, or what is now called taxpayer relief. This deals with the actual penalties and interest. The fraud of your accountant may be taken into consideration (do you have actual proof of this, and not just hearsay?).

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/ic07-1...

Relieving these penalties is probably only part of the issue you are wishing to deal with, though - taxpayer relief does NOT relieve any of the actual taxes themselves.

There is also something called a remission order. I have seen cases published that were allowed, but have no idea how to apply for one :
http://www.canlii.org/ca/sta/f-11/sec23....

If you wish to go the Remission Order route, you should definitely seek the advice of a lawyer.

You may need one anyway to determine if you have been convicted of anything (tax evasion) in your absence, and to help you decide the best course of action.

Once all options are exhausted, a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act might be an option, and/or bankruptcy.