Home detention for tax evasion

A Tauranga-based steel contractor was sentenced today on tax evasion involving more than $500,000. File photo / NZ Herald

A Tauranga-based steel contractor has been sentenced to 12 months' home detention for tax evasion involving more than $500,000.

James Allan Kent, 63, was sentenced in Tauranga District Court today on 13 charges of evading GST and 24 of knowingly failing to deduct PAYE with the intention of evading assessment or payment of tax.

Inland Revenue IRD assurance investigations manager Jonathan Matthews said Kent paid his subcontractors in cash, failed to register for GST and PAYE, and traded through an unregistered company.

"The defendant consistently chose to deal in cash in his business transactions," Mr Matthews said.

"The invoices he issued as part of his contractual obligations were in the name of a company that did not exist, and although most of them did not include a GST number, Mr Kent sometimes used his own IRD number.

"Inland Revenue is working hard to identify those businesses and individuals dealing in cash and avoiding their tax obligations."

- NZPA