“Want a little window?”: $375,000 in fines for this window cleaner

The owner of a window cleaning company in Quebec, whose slogan is “want a little window?”, was ordered to pay more than $375,000 in fines and will have to stay 12 months behind bars for tax fraud.

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“Through the implementation of a fraudulent scheme, Dominic Cleary illegally enriched himself with the amounts of $117,917.76 for unremitted QST, $95,521.24 for unremitted GST and $139,535. $54 in unpaid taxes,” deplores judge Nathalie DuPerron Roy.

In his judgment rendered last week at the Court of Quebec, we learned that this 56-year-old entrepreneur has simply not filed a tax return since 2014 for his business “Dom, laveurs de verre”. Ditto for the other cleaning company he owns, company 9307-8376.

“The defendant failed to report and include net income of $1,137,841.30 in his income for the 2015 to 2021 tax years,” we read in the court document. Note that during this period, the fifty-year-old declared business income which barely amounted to $44,000.

Video of the entrepreneur promoting his services:

“Without any scruple”

Cleary therefore tried to “get through a little quickly” with the Revenue Agency, but the State ultimately found that he had evaded nearly $350,000 in taxes.

“For his benefit, he thus, without any scruple, deprived the State and all Quebec taxpayers of these sums, which is an aggravating factor,” concluded Nathalie DuPerron Roy.

This resident of the Saint-Rodrigue district, in the National Capital, was ultimately found guilty of four counts for this fraud, under the laws on tax administration and the excise tax. In total, he was fined approximately $375,000. He will have 18 months to pay the said amounts.

No remorse

Among the aggravating factors in this case, the judge noted that the window cleaner “did not show remorse.”

“The court also considers as aggravating factors the commission of the offenses over several years, i.e. from 2016 to 2022, and the magnitude of the amounts involved. […] His motivation is greed,” notes the Court of Quebec.

In addition to the fines, the Quebecer will also have to serve a prison sentence of one year.

“Such a sentence achieves the objectives of sentencing set out in article 718 of the Criminal Code, in particular those of denunciation, deterrence and awareness by the offender of his responsibility,” concludes the judge.