Bankrupted director gets home detention

Photo / APN

A bankrupted former company director has been sentenced to seven months' home detention after pleading guilty to 37 counts of failing to meet tax obligations to the value of $190,000.

Paul La Franchie was sentenced at the Auckland District Court yesterday for not paying PAYE between 2005 and 2010, while he was director of Paul's Flooring and Avondale Flooring, both in liquidation.

Inland Revenue investigations manager Jonathan Matthews said La Franchie had "consistently failed" to meet tax obligations.

"La Franchie either failed to pay the full amount of PAYE that was required or nothing at all. Either way, he deliberately ignored his responsibilities in regard to his tax obligations and it became clear to the IRD that he had no intention of paying what was due."

Matthews said the IRD had been in contact with La Franchie regarding his non-payment since early 2004 and had worked to ensure both companies filed monthly employer schedules and paid PAYE on time.

Matthews said that when La Franchie was interviewed in 2008, he acknowledged his responsibilities as a company director but also admitted withholding the money for other purposes. He worked as director for another two years.

"The defendant was not only cheating taxpayers, he was getting an unfair advantage over other businesses in the industry that played by the rules."

La Franchie was bankrupted last year.

Between 2009 and 2010, 82 prosecutions were completed - 30 for failure to account for PAYE deductions, 20 related to evasion offences and the remaining 31 cases related to aiding and abetting others to evade taxes.