The Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) has been filing taxes under two separate accounts for the last several years, it was revealed at a council meeting last Wednesday.
According to a motion filed by VP Finance Elaine Xie, the second account was opened by a predecessor, who acted under the assumption that SUS had “lost its corporate status.”
Xie’s motion, which passed unanimously, sought to close the second account and return to using the first tax account.
Although Xie was not present at the meeting, SUS President Joanna Xu explained that the society’s accountants had been using one account, while Xie had been using another.
The motion brought the society into compliance with Quebec tax law.
Science Senator Moe Nasr sought to delay proceedings, however, by initiating an open debate among councillors about what he argued was “financial negligence.”
After the motion dissolved the second tax account, councillors debated whether or not to set up a provisional independent student inquiry into the SUS executive, as advocated by Nasr.
Many councillors declined, citing the lack of a clear mandate for such a committee. Executives encouraged Nasr to bring up a more detailed motion at the next council, on January 30.
In an interview with The Daily, Xu said that she would theoretically support such a committee for financial oversight, but disagreed with Nasr’s characterization of financial negligence.
“The [external] accountants didn’t catch it,” she said, referring to the duplicate tax account.