Two men, one a well-known tax specialist, have been sentenced in the High Court in Wellington in relation to a tax evasion scheme that involved false invoicing.
Tax consultant Scott Anderson received a jail term of three-and-a-half years, while 10 months' home detention was handed to Brent Gilchrist, a high-profile tax advisor.
They were convicted earlier this year on several charges of helping a client file false tax returns, which were based on fake invoices for services supplied by Anderson's company.
The court heard the scheme involved a client paying the invoices and claiming related tax deductions before he was reimbursed through accounts set up in Vanuatu.
Inland Revenue says the scheme resulted in at least $200,000 of unpaid taxes.
Anderson has been convicted of similar charges to do with a separate client.
Anderson and Gilchrist have also been found guilty of being parties to misleading Inland Revenue.
Inland Revenue's group tax counsel, Graham Tubb, says the convictions show IRD takes tax offending seriously.
"These crimes are not victimless. They do take away from the rest of us that are busily paying our tax and I think it's really important from the public perspective to say that we are taking steps to counteract this kind of fraudulent activity when we find it."
