A Tauranga man will serve 24 months’ imprisonment for tax and COVID related offending, with leave to apply for home detention.
Vincent Reynolds was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court on March 17 on ten fraud/evasion charges.
Reynolds used or attempted to use false GST and income tax returns, false documents, made false COVID relief claims and provided altered bank statements to get money he wasn’t entitled to.
He set up and ran NZ Digital Media Holdings Limited (NZDMHL) from 2 June 2020. Just a couple of weeks later he resigned as a director, and his mother took over but in name only.
Despite resigning as a director, he continued to control NZDMHL, continuing to file GST returns, income tax returns, and applications for several COVID-related relief schemes.
GST and Income Tax
Reynolds’ GST related offending netted at least $47,865.51.
The GST refunds were paid into NZDMHL’s bank account which Reynolds controlled, with the money spent on himself.
He filed false income tax returns for NZDMHL totalling more than $30,000 in tax losses. But the company made no sales nor incurred any expenditure.
COVID-19 support
COVID support schemes were rolled out in a high trust model to get help to people who qualified for it as quickly as possible.
The total amount of Resurgence Support Payments (RSP), COVID Support Payments (CSP) and Small Business Cashflow Scheme (SBCS) payments Reynolds dishonestly applied for was $84,000.
He received $36,800 before Inland Revenue discovered and stopped the payments.
False Invoices
Inland Revenue asked Reynolds for more information to support his SBCS application.
What he provided were various invoices purportedly issued by NZDMHL to customers in order to create the appearance of business income when there was none.
Altered bank accounts
Inland Revenue also asked Reynolds for further information on his RSP application and his income tax returns.
The bank statements he provided were altered to create the appearance of business income and expenditure when it didn’t exist.
Premeditation
Reynolds actively deceived Inland Revenue, the offending was premeditated and took placed over a period of 15 months. He spent the money he obtained on himself.
In total he applied for more than $131,865.51 but received $84,265.51.