A senior official of a company that ran a Markham auto dealer has been convicted and fined $50,000 on March 30, 2009 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Richmond Hill.

Sivasoruban Sivarajapillai - the director of 1424412 Ontario Limited, which was operating as Ben Auto Sales - was fined for failing to remit Retail Sales Tax (RST) collected by the corporation from its customers.

The Ministry of Revenue's Special Investigations Branch charged the corporation and Sivarajapillai after discovering they failed to remit RST in the amount of $91,359 between September 2001 and May 2005.

Sivarajapillai pleaded guilty to the Retail Sales Tax Act charge and entered a guilty plea for the corporation. He must also pay a $12,500 surcharge to the Victims' Justice Fund. The corporation was given a suspended sentence.

Ben Auto Sales, located at 4468-4486 Steeles Ave East in Markham has ceased operations.

In addition to court-imposed fines and surcharges, businesses convicted of tax offences must repay any taxes owing plus civil negligence penalties and interest, if any.

The Ministry of Revenue operates a voluntary disclosure program. Corporations and individuals may come forward and voluntarily report past violations of provincial tax laws and pay any amounts owing. Prosecution and civil negligence penalties are waived in such cases. To qualify for immunity from prosecution and penalties, a disclosure must be truly voluntary - it cannot be prompted by a request for access to a taxpayer's business records or other ministry enforcement action.