An Auckland accountant has been sent to prison for two years and nine months for tax fraud dating back to the turn of the century.
Alice Jardinero Monzon, 67, was sentenced in the Manukau District Court yesterday and as well as prison time, was ordered to pay $10,000 in reparation.
Monzon pleaded guilty to 9 representative charges under the Crimes Act primarily related to the returns she provided for clients but also to personal GST and income tax returns where she substantially under reported her income.
Inland Revenue spokesperson Tony Morris says given the size and span of the offending this is clearly not a one-off mistake.
“She essentially ripped off New Zealand taxpayers for nine years from 2000 to 2009 by filing more than 5,000 fraudulent returns for various tax types, and many more forms to IR, for more than 950 taxpayers,” Tony Morris says.
“It’s a very complex case with no obvious mitigating features and resulted in a more than $2-million dollar loss to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. Monzon received $703,573.07 she wasn’t entitled to during that time.
“Most clients were participants in one network marketing scheme, and they placed their trust in her as their accountant. Yet nearly 100 separate refunds for clients were paid into the defendant’s bank accounts and it appears only 40 were forwarded to clients,” Tony Morris says.
Monzon worked in the accounting industry in New Zealand for at least 20 years but was never registered as a tax agent with Inland Revenue.
She continued to provide “accounting” services to clients even after she applied for and was adjudged bankrupt in August 2012.
Monzon is the second accountant this month to be sent to prison for tax fraud.