FINES TOTAL £300

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 197, 20 August 1931, Page 6

FINES TOTAL £3OO

Made False Income Tax Returns. TIMARU HOTELKEEPER (Special to the “ Star.”) TIMARU, August 20. Fines totalling £3OO were imposed on Matthew Henry Richards, a hotelkeeper, in the Magistrate’s Court this morning, befojre Mr C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M. He was charged that in four instances, he had made false returns of income in 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. Mr W. D. Campbell, prosecuting for the Lands and Income Tax Department, said that in 1927 defendant returned his income as £9l, when it was really £IB3O, on which £136 tax was payable. In 1928, Richards returned £lOl as his income, when it was actually £l2O. In 1929 he made no return, and was assessed by default at £4OO. His actual income was £2090, on which £169 tax was payable. In 1930 he returned £524, instead of £1990, and paid £8 tax instead of £173. For the four years under review the income of which the department was notified was £lll6, whereas it was really £7332. Tax paid was £ll 5s 9d, whereas defendant was really liable for £565 8s 7d. Mr Campbell said defendant returned his gross revenue correctly, but inflated his deductions and expenses for purchase of stock and other outlay. From May, 1926, to March 31, 1930, his assets had improved £2400, while for his living he had also spent £4OOO. Defendant was fined £75 on each charge.