A Tauranga health and fitness trainer was sentenced to more than three years imprisonment for fraud, including tax fraud.
Karina Charmaine Longville (aka Knedler, aka Hollows) appeared for sentence in the Tauranga District Court on charges brought by Inland Revenue (IR), the Department of Internal Affairs and Police.
She was sentenced to 3-years and 5-months prison on all the charges, concurrently with two years for the tax fraud.
The IR charges were for accessing a computer system to get Working for Families Tax Credits (FAM), tax evasion, dishonestly using documents and using forged documents.
FAM offending
From December 2020 Longville received FAM tax credits for sharing day to day care of her four children. Anyone who is the principal caregiver may receive FAM, but the amount depends on the amount of their income.
In May 2021, Longville began receiving self-employed income but didn’t declare the income on her 2022, 2023 or 2024 income tax returns and was therefore overpaid FAM over those years. Subsequently the children no longer lived with her but she didn’t tell IR and continued to receive FAM into the 2025 income year.
She was aware of her obligations to report her income as she was previously prosecuted for similar dishonesty actions.
Income tax and GST offending
Between 2022 and 2024 Longville received income through three different businesses but didn’t declare any of it for income tax purposes.
Longville set up a company called Kaizen 1991 Limited in 2023 and used someone else’s name to list him as its director. The bank account used when Kaizen registered with Inland Revenue was changed about a month later to a joint account with her as one of the account holders.
Longville made several attempts to get money in GST returns but these were declined by IR after information requested was not provided.
In April 2024 IR received an email with several false invoices, including one for a $65,000 vehicle, and some account statements.
Kaizen never traded and didn’t provide or receive any services.
The Strand Café
In April 2024, Longville set up The Strand Café and Bar 2024 Limited (TSC) using one of her aliases. It went into receivership three months later.
Longville registered TSC for GST and a couple of weeks later, registered it as an employer. The bank account provided was her personal account.
Several times in 2024, she filed GST returns and filed false documents to support them. Longville’s house was searched in August 2024 and three bundles of sales records for the café were found. They showed around $20,000 worth of cash sales that were not declared for tax. She also did not declare or pay tax deductions made from employees’ pay.
TSC entered receivership on 18 July 2024.
Summary
Over a three-and-a-half-year period, Longville consistently and repetitively provided false information, fraudulent GST returns and forged documents.
She obtained or attempted to obtain $142,452.50.