A Yukon woman who lived an "extremely lavish lifestyle" while evading personal taxes has been ordered to pay off some of what she owes and seek counseling for an alleged gambling addiction.

Yen Ngoc Tran, or Kathy Tran, 52, filed for bankruptcy last year. Audits by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) found she owed more than $1.17 million in taxes.

Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower ruled that Tran must repay about 20 per cent of that, or $235,000.

Tran bought and sold several businesses and properties in Yukon over the last decade, including a house involved in an illegal marijuana grow-op in Whitehorse's Copper Ridge neighbourhood, the Kluane Park Inn in Haines Junction, and the Bonanza Inn in Whitehorse.

In 2012, she also bought an $815,000 property in Vancouver with her daughter, and paid "entirely in cash", according to court documents.

But according to Tran's tax filings, her personal income never exceeded $35,000 annually, between 2000 and 2014.

'No efforts whatsoever' to pay tax debt

The CRA audited Tran in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and found large discrepancies between her reported income and her personal expenditures. In 2007, CRA found that she had personal expenditures of $768,932, and unreported income of $1.18 million. Her reported income that year was $34,759.

In a written decision, Gower referred to Tran's "extremely lavish lifestyle," involving trips to China and Texas.

Gower also found that Tran "made no efforts whatsoever to pay the personal income tax debt."

Tran testified in Yukon Supreme Court, saying that she had a gambling addiction, and has claimed to have paid thousands of dollars in debts she incurred by betting on basketball and football. She told court that she has taken no steps to address her apparent addiction.

​Gower ordered her to seek help "for a professional assessment of her gambling addiction," and that she follow "any course of recommended treatment or counselling, including participation in Gamblers Anonymous."

Gower also ruled that the $235,000 debt must be paid at a rate of at least $200 per month. That would take nearly 98 years.

"The bankrupt is only 52 years old and would seem to have several productive working years ahead of her," Gower's decision reads.