Former Tauranga City councillor Andrew Hollis charged with 35 tax-related offences

Former Tauranga City councillor Andrew Hollis is charged with tax evasion offences and providing false information to the IRD. Photo / NZME

Former Tauranga City councillor Andrew Hollis has been charged with tax evasion offences and misleading Inland Revenue over Working for Families tax credits.

Some of the offending is alleged to have happened during his time as a councillor, and before his gold trading business collapsed.

Hollis, 54, appeared in the Tauranga Registrar Court last week facing 35 charges laid under the Tax Administration Act 1994 by the Inland Revenue Commissioner.

Court charging documents reveal Inland Revenue alleges the offences were committed in Tauranga between about January 16, 2020 and September 2, 2024.

Five charges alleged he evaded or attempted to evade the assessment or payment of income tax by himself or by another person.

Those charges related to the five income tax years ending between 2020 and 2024.

Hollis was also charged with 27 counts of evading or attempting to evade the assessment or payment of GST between November 30, 2019 and March 31, 2024.

He faced three charges of knowingly providing false or misleading information in an income tax return, with the intent of obtaining Working for Families Tax Credit payments, despite knowing he was not entitled to them. These related to the tax years ending 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The maximum penalty for each charge is five years in prison and/or a fine of $50,000.

In court last Thursday, the registrar remanded Hollis on bail to reappear in the same court on May 7.

He is yet to enter pleas.

Inland Revenue declined to provide more information about the case to the Bay of Plenty Times at this stage of the court process.

High Court case pending

Hollis was elected to Tauranga City Council in October 2019. He was among the elected members sacked in late 2020 then replaced with Government-appointed commissioners.

After failed runs for other public offices, he incorporated bullion trading company Guardians of Gold Ltd on September 3, 2024.

The company was placed into voluntary liquidation in August last year, and receivership the following month.

Receivers have filed a High Court application over the ownership and treatment of an estimated $250,000 of bullion inventory that Guardians of Gold Ltd held when it went into receivership and liquidation.

The court case relates to 34 unsecured creditors and is due to be called in the High Court at Tauranga on May 25.

Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.