2010 media releases
Plasterer sentenced for tax offences
11 June 2010
A Queenstown plasterer has been sentenced to 280 hours community work and ordered to pay reparation on tax charges involving payments of more than $250,000.
Steven John Whyte was sentenced today in the Dunedin District Court after earlier admitting 18 charges of GST fraud and 16 charges of failing to account for PAYE. The offences took place over a four year period from 2001.
Inland Revenue Assurance Manager, Investigations, Lynley Sutherland, said the sentence should serve as a strong deterrent to others.
"This is a case of a tradesman who simply ignored the law and decided not to meet his tax obligations. That not only gave him a significant cash benefit, it also put competitors who were paying their tax at a clear disadvantage."
"We're aware there are people out there who are trying to operate under our radar and get away with fraud of this kind, and this shows that we are very capable of identifying them and prosecuting them," Ms Sutherland said.
Whyte, operating as Arrow Plasterers, was charging customers GST. However, he did not return a substantial amount of GST in the period March 2001 to July 2005. It is estimated that by doing this, he failed to account for income of $252,805.
Many business records were not kept and Whyte was only able to provide bank statements and a limited number of invoices to Inland Revenue.
Whyte attempted to reduce the amount of GST payable by cashing some cheques received for work done and not returning those amounts for GST. He admitted receiving cash and using it for personal expenses.
Some invoices established that he employed a friend for sixteen months and paid him by cheque with no PAYE returned to IRD. Whyte claimed that he had been too busy and meant to get back to it later.
For further information:
Catherine Delore
(04) 890 1698
(029) 890 1698
catherine.delore@ird.govt.nz
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- Tax offender used new identity to obtain GST refunds
- Inland Revenue wins Government category in 2010 Open Source Awards
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- Property developer jailed for tax evasion
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- Orewa College student wins Inland Revenue award
- Donations tax cheat receives home detention
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- Sentence a warning for food industry
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Corporate Affairs
Inland Revenue
To make a media query:
Phone 04 890 1698 or email mediaqueries@ird.govt.nz
Please note, the email address is only for enquiries from the news media. It is monitored during normal business hours 8am - 5pm Monday to Friday.
P O Box 2198
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
Date published: 11 Jun 2010
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