The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has won its tax evasion case against Westpac Banking Corp, resulting in a NZ$918 million fine for the bank. The New Zealand High Court made a decision to dismiss Westpac’s challenge to IRD’s decision that the bank owes $586 million in taxes for a series of structured finance transactions. The IRD claimed that between 1998 and 2002 the bank undertook a series of offshore transactions whose sole purpose was tax evasion. The court proceedings centered around nine such ... Read More

Three years and four month worth of jail time has been given to a West Auckland man for 121 varying tax charges. Somsanit Phommasa, a West Auckland based tiler, admitted to 121 separate charges of GST, PAYE and income tax evasion. In the period between 1998 and 2007 is accused of having accumulated $1,617,705 worth of evaded taxes. Charges included imposing GST on customers while making no attempt to pass it onto the Inland Revenue Department. The GST fraud amounted to $479,607. Income tax ... Read More

An appeal will be filed to the High Court’s decision regarding its judgment of BNZ and its structured finance accusations. According to statements made on the 11th of August by Andrew Thorburn, BNZ Chief Executive Officer, the bank will be filing an appeal to last month’s High Court decision. He said "This is a complex area of law, and given the facts of the case, we're not convinced that the decision was the right outcome." The IRD accused the bank of engaging in ... Read More