Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Gilles Tassé and his company, Perfectair Inc., faced 24 charges of wilfully evading Quebec sales tax (TVQ) and income tax obligations between May 1, 2017, and February 1, 2022.
• Both defendants also faced six additional charges under the federal Excise Tax Act for failing to file GST returns and remit amounts owing.
• Analysis of 388 seized invoices, totalling $867,508.70 before taxes, formed the evidentiary backbone of the prosecution's case.
• Investigators cross-referenced the invoices with bank deposit records obtained through court-ordered communications to establish the amounts of tax collected but not remitted.
• Neither defendant produced any evidence to challenge the accuracy of the invoices, deposits, or the tax calculations presented by the prosecution.
• Tassé did not testify in his own defence and was confirmed as the sole director of Perfectair Inc. throughout the relevant period.

Facts of the case

Gilles Tassé and his company, Perfectair Inc., were charged in two matters before the Court of Québec, Criminal and Penal Division (docket nos. 700-73-001534-231 and 700-61-207421-238), presided over by the Honourable Sylvain Lépine, J.C.Q. The defendants faced a combined total of 30 charges. Twenty-four charges arose under the Act respecting the Québec sales tax and the Taxation Act (Québec), alleging that the defendants had wilfully evaded their obligation to declare and remit TVQ and to declare and pay provincial income taxes for the period of May 1, 2017, to February 1, 2022. A further six charges (three per defendant) were laid under the federal Excise Tax Act, alleging evasion of GST obligations, failure to file GST returns, and failure to remit amounts owing.

The prosecution called a single witness: Mr. Sévigny, an investigator with the Agence du revenu du Québec (ARQ). Following searches of Perfectair Inc.'s office and warehouse, investigators seized numerous documents, including 388 invoices. Through court-ordered communications from the defendants' bank and Interac, they also obtained banking records showing deposits made to the company's account. Records from the Registre des entreprises confirmed that Tassé was the sole director of the company throughout the relevant period.

Statutory provisions at issue

The charges engaged several legislative provisions. Under section 62(d) of the Act respecting tax administration (L.R.Q. c. A-6.002), it is an offence to wilfully, in any manner, evade or attempt to evade compliance with a fiscal law or the payment, remittance, or transfer of a duty established under such a law. Section 62.0.1(a) of the same Act makes it an offence to destroy, alter, mutilate, or conceal records or documents of a person subject to a fiscal law in order to evade payment. Under section 468 of the Act respecting the Québec sales tax, registrants are required to file a return for each of their reporting periods within prescribed deadlines. The federal Excise Tax Act similarly requires registrants to file returns (s. 238(1)) and imposes offences for failing to do so (s. 326(1)), for wilfully evading tax obligations (s. 327(1)(c)), and for wilfully failing to pay or remit tax (s. 329(1)).

Reasoning and analysis

The court characterized the prosecution's evidence as overwhelming and noted that it derived in large part from the defendants' own records. By cross-referencing the 388 seized invoices with the bank deposit data, the investigator determined that taxes had either been collected from clients and not remitted, or had simply not been collected at all. For invoices on which no tax was shown, the investigator performed his own calculations to determine the amounts owing. Invoices marked "paid" but for which no corresponding deposit could be traced were also factored into the analysis. In total, the 388 invoices represented $867,508.70 in revenue before taxes.

For the income tax portion, the court noted that no amounts had been remitted to the Quebec government during the period, making the calculation straightforward: the investigator applied the applicable statutory tax rates to the undeclared revenue of $867,508.70. The defendants offered no evidence to suggest that operating expenses should have been deducted from that figure, nor did they challenge the accuracy of the invoices or deposits. Tassé did not testify and presented no defence evidence whatsoever.

Ruling and outcome

The court found both Gilles Tassé and Perfectair Inc. guilty on all charges in both matters. The GST shortfall was established at $43,375.67, the TVQ shortfall at $86,534.36, and unpaid provincial income taxes at $100,660.44, for a combined identified tax liability of $230,570.47. The judgment does not specify the total fines or penalties to be imposed beyond these established tax amounts; accordingly, the exact monetary amounts ordered cannot be determined from the decision as issued. The ARQ, represented by Me Jean-Pierre Sharpe and Me Sébastien Gobeil, was the successful party.