A Nanaimo businesswoman received a hefty fine and jail time for tax evasion last week.

Suzanne Luoma, a financial management consultant, was sentenced in Victoria Provincial Court on for income tax and goods and services tax evasion.

Luoma was found guilty on three counts of income tax evasion and one count of GST evasion on Dec. 16, 2008.

She was fined $45,000 and sentenced to 90 days in jail.

A Canada Revenue Agency investigation found that Luoma did not file her personal income tax returns from 1997 to 2000 because she claimed she had not been working.

Further investigation found Luoma had unreported income of $343,902 for the 1996 to 2000 taxation years and $15,404 in outstanding GST for 1997 to 1999.

She also falsely claimed a full spousal deduction for her husband for 2001, knowing that he was engaged at the same employer as herself that year.

Luoma filed her outstanding returns once under criminal investigation, but the CRA determined she consciously falsified the general ledgers and profit and loss statement for the relevant years to include claims for expenses she knew were not allowable.

CRA investigators found that Luoma’s actions resulted in the evasion of $60,906 in federal taxes on income and $15,404 in GST for a total of $76,364.

Individuals found guilty of tax evasion or GST fraud must repay the full amount of taxes owing or amounts fraudulently obtained, plus interest and any civil penalties deemed appropriate by the CRA.

Individuals who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can voluntarily correct their tax affairs without being penalized or prosecuted, as long as they make a full disclosure before the CRA starts an investigation against them.

For more information on the Voluntary Disclosures Program, please go to www.cra-arc.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

According to the CRA website, 31 people on Vancouver Island were convicted in 2008 for failing to file tax returns.