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A Brisbane businessman convicted of pocketing over $500,000 through GST and income tax fraudulent claims has been sentenced to four years and six months in jail.
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Over $500k in tax fraud lands man 4.5 years jail time
31 May 2019
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8 minute read
The Brisbane District Court has sentenced David Irvine to four years and six months jail for tax fraud, after being convicted of obtaining $596,736 for GST fraud and personal income tax return fraud.
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Between January 2012 and March 2015, as the director of International Products Group Pty Ltd (IPG), a corporate trustee for the Irvine Family Trust, Mr Irvine lodged 39 monthly business activity statements via his registered AUSkey, resulting in the wrongful payment of $480,680 in tax refunds into his own bank account.
As the director of a wholesale distributor of wooden sticks for use in ice creams and coffee stirrers in South East Queensland, Mr Irvine fraudulently reported export sales to reduce the company’s GST payment obligations which led to the company receiving illegal GST refunds.
No attempt was made to repay the monies incorrectly received, and the IPG was placed in voluntary liquidation on 17 June 2015.
In addition, Mr Irvine had declared a nil income for the 2009 to 2011 financial years in his personal income tax returns. As a director of IPG and beneficiary of Irvine Family Trust, the ATO audit showed the total assessable income should have been $387,136 with the tax payable of $116,056.
ATO assistant commissioner Peter Vujanic said the sentencing was a warning of the ATO’s hard-line stance against tax crimes.
“Contrary to popular belief, tax crime is not victimless. By deliberately defrauding the tax and super system including claiming a refund you’re not entitled to, you are stealing from the whole community and disadvantaging Australians who do the right thing,” Mr Vujanic said.
“Today’s result demonstrates the ATO’s commitment to detecting and prosecuting tax crimes and should serve as a warning to those who think they can flout the law and get away with it.”
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