Unregistered immigration consultant made nearly $500K over 3 years and never told the CRA, says agency

Canada’s privacy watchdog reports more than 42Ktax account breaches since 2020, citing CRA gaps in prevention, detection & delayed multi-factor authentication.

An unregistered Canadian immigration consultant has been fined for failing to declare nearly $500,000 in income, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) reported Thursday morning.

“Between 2013 and 2015, (Qi Wang of Roberts Creek, B.C.) did not report the income from payments he received from foreign nationals to help with their applications for permanent residence in Canada,” wrote the CRA in a press release.

Wang was fined a total of $112,627.33 after pleading guilty to two counts of tax evasion under the Income Tax Act, the agency said. The undeclared income amounted to $494,891.75 between 2013 and 2016, of which $472,891.75 was earned “while operating as an unregistered immigration consultant.”

In addition to the fine, he was handed a sixth-month conditional sentence order as part of his June 24 sentencing. His case was heard by a court in Regina, Sask., following an investigation prompted by a referral from the Canada Border Services Agency.

“Cheating on your taxes affects the services and programs we all rely on to improve our quality of life,” the CRA wrote in its release.