Georgetown Pet Store Fails To Remit RST

The director of a corporation operating as Pet Valu Store No. 16 in Georgetown, was fined $25,000 on January 15, 2010 for failing to report and remit retail sales tax.

Sharron Lewis pleaded guilty to the charges in the Ontario Court of Justice in Burlington. The Ministry of Revenue's Special Investigations Branch charged the corporation and its director under the Retail Sales Tax Act, after discovering they failed to report and remit $137,009 collected between July 2003 and April 2008.

Sharron Lewis must also pay a surcharge of $6,250 to the Victims' Justice Fund. The corporation, 1578399 Ontario Inc., was also convicted and received a suspended sentence.

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. Under the Ministry of Revenue's voluntary disclosure program, corporations and individuals may come forward and voluntarily report past violations of provincial tax laws and pay any amounts owing.

The current Ontario retail sales tax will generally cease to apply on July 1, 2010 and will be replaced with the harmonized sales tax (HST), administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. Businesses collecting Ontario retail sales tax are responsible for filing their retail sales tax return and remitting any tax collected with their final Ontario return due July 23, 2010.

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