Tax dodger jailed

A Dunedin man has been jailed for 12 months for evading income tax, and GST.

Thanh Van Tran was sentenced today in the Dunedin District Court after earlier admitting eight charges of failing to file income tax returns, and 16 charges of failing to file GST returns.

The offending took place between November 1999 and September 2007, when Tran owned and operated a tiling and waterproofing business in Queenstown.

Inland Revenue investigations manager Lynley Sutherland welcomed the sentence.

A firm approach with tax evasion helped restore a level playing field, Ms Sutherland said.

Tran started business in November 1999 and registered for GST straight away.

Although based in Queenstown, he also operated in Southland, Otago, Rotorua, and Auckland.

He filed no income tax or GST returns in the eight years he was in business.

In March 2006, Tran converted his business to a company to avoid deductions of withholding tax from his earnings.

Tran kept no business records, but enquiries with his customers revealed he should have returned income of at least $343,000 in his GST returns, and $324,000 in his income tax returns.

- NZPA