For GST returns between July 2014 and May 2018, Tangikau returned losses - and received rebates amounting to $153,000.
“You misappropriated at least $245,000 of PAYE which is money that you pay to the Government on behalf of your staff,” the judge added.
“Now, you say that you did this because you really were unable to work out yourself what you should pay, and you were somewhat incompetent with your returns,” Judge Davenport said.
“It is unfortunate that despite the Commissioner of Inland Revenue reaching out to you on a number of occasions, including one where they came around to see you, you took no steps to remedy the concerns,” the judge added.
“You continued on with your fraudulent non-reporting or discounted reporting of what you earnt.
“So, the person that has benefited from this has been you and your family and you have benefited to the sum of an agreed figure of $420,000.”
Tangikau’s lawyer has been approached for comment. It’s not immediately clear if the mother-of-six appealed her conviction or sentence.
“The difficulty in sentencing you, Ms Tangikau, is that you have taken no steps to do anything about this situation, even though you were charged with these charges in May 2022,” Judge Davenport said.
Tangikau provided a letter expressing remorse.
“You say that these charges were occasioned by your ignorance of what you had to do and your inability to understand how to file tax returns or PAYE or GST returns because of your lack of knowledge. However, I believe that this is post-circumstance justification.”
The judge added: “You put your staff at risk because you did not pay the PAYE on their returns and the charge that you face is that you did this knowingly.”
The offending was not sophisticated, maybe not even planned, but it continued for six years with 75 false returns, Judge Davenport added.
Tangikau received discounts for previous good character, her guilty plea, and for remorse.
That still left her with two years and three months in prison.
She was ordered to repay $420,000 at $50 a week.
At that rate, the debt will be repaid in about November - in the year 2185.
Tax evasion
The summary of facts said Tangikau showed very poor compliance with tax obligations and only intermittently responded to communications from IRD.
In December 2015, a community compliance officer visited, and Tangikau said she’d file outstanding returns.
The first tax evasion charge related to understating self-employed income in the financial years from 2015 to 2020.
Tangikau had an income tax shortfall of at least $126,194.37.
“By understating her income, Ms Tangikau was also able to obtain at least $42,447.69 of family assistance payments she was not entitled to.”
The second tax evasion charge related to GST returns from 2014 to 2020.
“Each of the 26 GST returns filed by Ms Tangikau contained information [she] knew was altered, false, incomplete or misleading,” the summary of facts added.
These returns under-reported sales and over-reported expenditure, so Tangikau claimed to have costs much higher than expenses she actually incurred.
Tangikau faced a third charge which was of misappropriating payroll tax.
She did this at least 43 times between approximately April 2015 and December 2019.
“There was no correlation between the amounts Ms Tangikau reported as wages paid to her employees and the actual amounts paid, as reflected in her bank statement.”
From May 2013, Tangikau only paid $564.30 of payroll tax deductions she reported as having made, and so she misappropriated at least $78,373.68 of PAYE.
John Weekes, online business editor, has covered court, crime, politics, breaking news and consumer affairs.
