ROGERS Land Development Limited and its director, Richard Rogers, was last week fined $1.9 million in the Sutton Street Tax Court for making a false declaration, a breach of Section 99 (1) of the Income Tax Act.

The company and its director were prosecuted following an investigation by Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), through its Intelligence, Investigation and Enforcement and Legal Unit.,

TAJ’s legal counsel led evidence that for the period January 1 to December 31, 2018 and October 01, 2019 to September 30, 2020, Rogers Land Development Limited filed income tax returns, indicating that the business collected no income (Nil returns) for the stated period, knowing it to be false.

On March 21, 2022 in the Sutton Street Tax Court, company director Richard Rogers pleaded guilty to two counts of making false declaration and was sentenced to a fine of $1.9 million or 30 days imprisonment. He subsequently paid the fines.

Under the Income Tax Act, “any person who for the purpose of obtaining any allowance, reduction, rebate or repayment in respect of income tax either for himself or for any other person, or who in any return, statement, declaration, form or particulars delivered under this Act, knowingly makes any false statement of false representation, commits an offence, and shall be liable, in the case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding $2 million, and, in default of payment thereof, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year”.

TAJ, in a release yesterday, said: “Taxpayers are being reminded that failure to report correct income, profits or gains, as defined within the Income Tax Act, will result in enforcement action by the tax authority, utilising the applicable provisions under the law.”