Former executive for Lake Louise Ski Resort jailed, fined $100K+ for tax evasion

A former executive for Lake Louise Ski Resort has been sentenced to a year in jail and fined more than $100,000 following an investigation by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The CRA announced on Thursday that Derek Kwasney of Calgary, who pleaded guilty on September 26, 2024, to willfully evading payment of taxes by understating his taxable income on his T1 Individual Tax Returns, received a sentence earlier this week in the Alberta Court of Justice.

A CRA investigation revealed that, as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Controller of the Lake Louise Ski Resort Area Ltd. (LLSR), Kwasney misappropriated funds from LLSR in 2015 and 2016 totaling over $350,000. Kwasney failed to report the misappropriated funds as part of his taxable income for the 2015 and 2016 taxation years, thereby evading more than $100,000 in federal income tax.

All case-specific information above was obtained from the court records.

In addition to the court-imposed fines and/or jail sentences, Kwasney will have to pay the full amount of tax owing, plus related interest and any penalties assessed by the CRA.

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