A New Plymouth woman was sentenced to home detention when she appeared in court on tax evasion charges.
Dawn Bason was sentenced by Judge Kellar in the New Plymouth District Court on August 27 on 31 charges of evading or attempting to evade the assessment or payment of GST and income tax worth nearly half a million dollars.
Bason was the sole shareholder and director of Moko Drilling Limited (MDL) over an 8-year period.
Judge Kellar referred to the persistent and premeditated nature of the offending, specifically that Bason failed to file returns despite multiple warnings from Inland Revenue.
His Honour also noted the tax offending was not a victimless crime and that tax matters rely heavily on the honesty of taxpayers.
MDL provided drilling consulting services and should have been filing GST and income tax returns.
Inland Revenue tried several times to help MDL comply with its tax obligations, but the company never complied. In December 2023, IR began an investigation and audit.
Income from services provided by MDL was transferred directly to Bason, which meant she had to file a tax return for herself.
She failed to file any GST returns and income tax returns for the company and for herself for tax periods between 2017 and 2024. The outstanding returns were filed in 2025.
MDL owed $166,073.43 in GST and Bason owed $317,904 in income tax but neither amount was paid in full. A $5,000 payment toward the debt was made prior to sentencing, leaving an outstanding loss to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue of $448,977.43.
Judge Kellar starting point for sentencing was 30 months imprisonment but gave discounts for early guilty pleas, previous good character and personal factors. This led to an end sentence of 21 months imprisonment, which was commuted to 10 months home detention.