An Auckland businesswoman has been sentenced to community detention and community work on tax evasion charges.
Over a three-year period, Sujatha Prasad evaded the assessment and/or payment of $220,903 in income tax, GST, and PAYE.
Prasad was sentenced to five and a half months community detention and 200 hours community work when she appeared for sentence in the Manukau District Court on January 26.
In 2013 she and her husband set up a company, Arianya Ltd, which ran a Subway outlet on Pitt St. They had previously operated through a different company another Subway outlet on Queen St. Both companies were placed in liquidation.
Prasad transferred money transferred from the Arianya’s bank account to her bank account and used it to pay personal mortgage and living costs. She claimed and received the wage subsidy for Arianya as part of the Government’s response to COVID-19 despite not paying any of the PAYE of Arianya’s employees to Inland Revenue.