Tauranga man Vincent Reynolds sentenced over $80,000 tax and Covid fraud

Tauranga man Vincent Reynolds attempted to dishonestly obtain more than $130,000 from Inland Revenue over 15 months. Photo / NZME

A Tauranga man has been sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment for tax and Covid-related offending after obtaining more than $80,000 he wasn’t entitled to.

Vincent Reynolds was handed the punishment at the Tauranga District Court this week on 10 fraud and evasion charges, with leave to apply for home detention.

Reynolds deceived Inland Revenue over 15 months as he applied for $131,865.51 and ultimately received $84,265.51, which he spent on himself.

Inland Revenue said Reynolds used or attempted to use false GST and income tax returns, false documents, made false Covid relief claims and provided altered bank statements to get money he wasn’t entitled to.

Reynolds set up and ran NZ Digital Media Holdings (NZDMH) on June 2, 2020, before resigning as a director a couple of weeks later. His mother then took over as director, but in name only, Inland Revenue said.

Despite resigning as a director, he continued to control the company, filing GST returns, income tax returns and applications for several Covid-related relief schemes.

Reynolds’ GST-related offending netted him at least $47,865.51.

The GST refunds were paid into NZDMH’s bank account, which Reynolds controlled.

He also filed false income tax returns for NZDMH totalling more than $30,000 in tax losses despite the company having made no sales nor incurred any expenditure.

Reynolds went on to dishonestly apply for $84,000 in resurgence support payments (RSP), Covid support payments and Small Business Cashflow Scheme (SBCS) payments.

He received $36,800 before Inland Revenue discovered and stopped the payments.

Inland Revenue asked Reynolds for more information to support his SBCS application, to which he provided a number of invoices purportedly issued by NZDMH to customers to create the appearance of business income when there was none.

When asked for further information on his RSP application and his income tax returns, Reynolds provided altered bank statements to suggest business income and expenditure.

Inland Revenue labelled Reynolds’ offending as premeditated.