Auckland accountant sentenced for evading more than $1M tax

Papakura accountant Glenn William Archibald made a career out of filing income tax returns for his clients, but for nearly a decade didn’t file any income tax returns or pay any tax himself.

Those years of evading taxes caught up with him today at Papakura District Court, where the 72-year-old was given 12 months’ home detention and 200 hours of community work.

Archibald was sentenced on 11 charges, having evaded $1.04 million in income tax and fraudulently claimed $85,664 in GST refunds. He paid $650,000 towards reparation prior to sentencing.

Inland Revenue spokesperson Karen Whitiskie says Archibald’s offending was calculated and deliberate.

“This is an experienced accountant who knows what his tax obligations are. Yet he deliberately evaded paying tax for nine years,” Ms Whitiskie says.

“Archibald’s offending included creating false invoices for small amounts over a lengthy period in order to claim GST refunds for a second company that has never undertaken any business activity.

“That someone in his position and with his experience would take such calculated and premeditated action is extremely disappointing.”

The evasion was uncovered by an Inland Revenue audit investigation. Archibald was repeatedly given the opportunity to file the outstanding returns but failed to do so.

“The general public is the victim of his offending having been deprived of a significant sum of money, which could have been put towards funding essential public services.”

Archibald was the director of Electronic Tax Office Limited, which trades as Archibald & Associates, and Papakura Promotions Limited – the entity he used to claim the false GST refunds.

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