Bakery owner gets six-figure fine for tax evasion

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This article was published 11/8/2009 (4088 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE owner of a popular bakery and restaurant in Churchill has been given a six-figure fine for tax evasion.

Antonio Da Silva, proprietor of the Gypsy Bakery, pleaded guilty to multiple charges and was penalized $178,965. He must also pay back nearly $300,000 in federal income taxes and roughly $150,000 in provincial taxes, according to Emilia Kotris, Winnipeg-based communications manager for the Canada Revenue Agency.

The CRA discovered that Da Silva understated sales from Gypsy Bakery by more than $1 million on its corporate tax returns from 2003 to 2007. He also failed to report nearly $750,000 in personal income from 2002 to 2007, CRA said.

"During the investigation, we found almost $250,000 in cash in the safe on the business premises. Cash sales were being deposited to personal bank accounts or to pay credit card bills. It appears the scheme was to try to divert the cash sales and not account for them," Kotris said.

"I paid the fine and that's it. I'm not happy but life keeps going," said Da Silva, noting Gypsy, which is licensed and can seat up to 100 customers, will remain open.

Kotris said Da Silva does not face any jail time. She said the penalty should serve as a deterrent to anybody considering fudging the numbers on their tax returns.

"In most cases, the penalty works out to about twice the amount of the federal tax that they tried to evade," she said.

-- Geoff Kirbyson