Seventeen locked up for fraud and tax evasion
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) convicted nearly 400 people between 1 July and 30 September for various tax and superannuation offences, with 17 receiving custodial sentences.
The custodial sentences ranged between eight months and 7.5 years for fraud and tax evasion offences, including GST, excise, refund fraud, dealing in the cash economy, deliberately concealing income and operating as an unregistered tax agent.
The longest sentence of 7.5 years was for a Victorian man who was found guilty in the Melbourne Supreme Court of lodging more than 180 false Business Activity Statements for entities controlled by him — the second largest custodial sentence on record for this particular type of crime. The ATO stated it had paid refunds of more than $9.4 million, although it stopped further claims amounting to more than $175,000.
The tax office stated that 312 individuals and 65 companies were prosecuted and convicted of tax offences, which included non-lodgement of forms and receiving a fee for preparing an income tax return on behalf of a taxpayer while not being a registered tax agent.
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