Howard Kane Taylor was sentenced in the Auckland District court on 11 July. He pleaded guilty to the 8 charges just days before his trial was due to start earlier this year.
Taylor chose to abuse the scheme and benefit off the taxpayer during the COVID 19 pandemic, a time of significant stress and uncertainty for people and their businesses.
In April 2020, the Small Business Cashflow Loan scheme was introduced to help small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was designed to help those most in need during an unprecedented time of stress.
Between 28 May 2020 and 29 June 2020, Taylor made eight SBC loan applications each requesting an amount of $11,800 for various businesses – a total of $94,400.
In August 2020 IR began an investigation and found none of the money was paid into the accounts of the companies he had made the applications for. The money went into Taylor’s accounts.
All of the SBC loans have been repaid to IR.
Taylor was a registered Tax Agent with Inland Revenue at the time of the offending but was removed from the list of tax agents by IR in November 2022.
He was sentenced to six months community detention and ordered to complete 120 hours of community work. The judge allowed discounts on his sentence for his charity work, repaying the loans and because of his poor health.
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