The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court decision to fine a Prince George man $6,000 for failing to file completed and signed income tax returns for six years.
Lane Ronald John Logan was seeking to have an October 2012 B.C. Supreme Court decision dismissed, arguing Canada Revenue Agency was "not engaged in a genuine and serious inquiry to determine his taxable liability."
Consequently, Logan said he should not have been served under a section of the Income Tax Act that treated his actions as criminal rather than as a regulatory or administrative problem. However, Court of Appeals Justice Nicole Garson concluded that pursuing the matter under that particular section is "prima facie proof" that the CRA is serious and had been in contact with Logan for many years regarding his unfiled returns.
Logan, a professional engineer, did not filed income tax returns for the years 2001 to 2006. Numerous attempts to contact Logan culminated in August 2007 with a CRA investigator personally serving Logan with notice to provide the returns within 90 days.
In November 2007, the investigator received from Logan incomplete and unsigned returns and the matter was taken to provincial court where, in September 2011, he was issued the fines. Logan then appealed the matter to the B.C. Supreme Court, which upheld the provincial court ruling.
