A Gisborne businessman who evaded nearly $500,000 in tax has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half-months' home detention.
Photo: 123RF
Liangxing Luo, hid more than $1 million in tax sales from his accountant by pocketing cash sales over a four-year period.
In total he evaded just over $420,000 in tax and GST.
Luo, 46, runs the Art Fun Wear chain of emporium-style stores in Gisborne, Dunedin and Invercargill.
He claimed he directed cash takings into his personal accounts to avoid bank fees, but Inland Revenue said that was a baseless defence.
The IRD was able to recover the unpaid tax by deducting it from associated bank accounts.
