KELOWNA – A Vernon woman was sentenced Thursday to 33 months in prison for tax evasion offenses, including criminal fraud.
Donna Marie Stancer was the operating and controlling mind of Demara consulting, a Vernon tax preparation company that filed returns for selected clients using a system called “The Remedy.”
The illegal scheme claimed $191 million in ineligible personal expenses, to generate false business and capital losses for 224 people, trying to claim about $10 million in refunds from the Canada Revenue Agency.
Some of those clients, facing heavy penalties from the government, have since declared bankruptcy.
Stancer testifed she believed The Remedy was a legitimate way to file income taxes but the judge ruled Stancer knew it was against the law, does not have genuine remorse for her wrong-doing, and attempted to deflect the blame on others.
“Any thoughtful person would, and should have seen, The Remedy as an obviously illegal method of filing income tax returns,” said Madame Justice Alison Beames.
The judge said Stancer’s testimony on the witness stand was evasive and inconsistent and she tried to minimize her involvement in the illegal scheme.
The 63-year-old was also fined $62,980. That was the refund she wrongfully claimed on her own tax return.
In 1989, Stancer was convicted in Surrey for similar tax evasion offenses and was sentenced to 18 months in jail, fined $44,000, and ordered to pay restitution of $140,000.
Beames did not order Stancer to pay any restitution to her Okanagan victims as she does not have the ability to pay.
The judge said she would have imposed a more lengthy sentence but for Stancer’s poor health and fragile personal state.
In November, Demara Consulting employee Deanna LaValley was sentenced to 22 months, to be served in the community, and fined more than $17,000 for similar offenses.
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