2012 media releases
Blenheim man sentenced to home detention for tax offences
2 February 2012
A Blenheim agricultural contractor has been sentenced to four months home detention and 200 hours community service for failure to account for PAYE tax deductions amounting to over $541,000.
Nanda Gopal Santhanam Ponnuchetty was sentenced today in the Christchurch District Court after earlier pleading guilty to 55 charges of aiding and abetting his company, Wine Reach Services Limited, to withhold PAYE deductions that were due to Inland Revenue.
Lynley Sutherland, Manager Investigations, Assurance, said that Ponnuchetty's business deducted PAYE from its employees but did not pass the money on to Inland Revenue. He consistently failed to make payments to Inland Revenue between May 2005 and November 2007.
"Failure to account for PAYE is an especially serious offence because the money is held in trust on behalf of employees. The defendant eventually made repayments to Inland Revenue but $61,000 in penalties and interest had to be written off.
"Mr Ponnuchetty fully understood his company's tax situation as he had been advised by Inland Revenue and we offered to help him get up to date with his affairs yet he still failed to comply.
"The Judge stated that he also failed to ensure that he had adequate cashflow and did not have the basics right when running a business."
Ponnuchetty had been due to appear in court in June 2009 but left the country. A warrant for his arrest was issued in his absence and he only returned to New Zealand last year.
"The agricultural contracting industry is competitive, yet by operating in this way, businesses can undercut one another on price and gain an unfair advantage over others who play by the rules.
"Our tax system relies on honesty of individuals and their business entities, and when someone fails to pay their fair share and cheats the system, they are taking money from services such as schools, health care and other essential government services," Ms Sutherland said.
For further information:
David G. Miller
(04) 890 1743
(029) 890 1743
david.miller@ird.govt.nz
Other media releases this year
- Illegal Working for Families Tax Credits claims results in home detention
- Community service after false GST claims
- Inland Revenue releases industry benchmarks
- Student loan, KiwiSaver and Working for Families changes
- Property developer sentenced to home detention for tax evasion
- Repayment deadline for student loan borrowers overseas
- Home detention and reparations for tax evasion
- Prison for tax fraud and evasion
- Inland Revenue clarifies Hanover debt-for-equity swaps
- Community detention for dishonesty and fraud
- A year in prison for tax evasion
- February tax payment reminder
Corporate Affairs
Inland Revenue
To make a media query:
Phone 04 890 1698 or email mediaqueries@ird.govt.nz
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P O Box 2198
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
Date published: 03 Feb 2012
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