Tax refund fraudster jailed

A beneficiary’s manipulation of tax forms to net himself nearly $100,000 from Inland Revenue has ended with him spending time inside a taxpayer-funded institution – prison.

Cameron Jesse King, also known as Kamrin Jay Gasilos, 24, was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday to 22 months’ jail for dishonestly using a document.

He had faced 104 charges, one for every false return he filed, but they were merged into one representative charge.

While his sentence was inside the two-year timeframe to be considered for home detention, Judge Lance Rowe said there was no way that could be considered because of the sustained nature of King’s offending.

Between August 2012 and July 2015, King submitted 104 personal tax summaries on behalf of 36 people to Inland Revenue.

Those people were unaware King was adjusting the summaries to get large income tax refunds, and some did not even know King was doing summaries for them.

King tried to claim $193,475 in false tax refunds, and $93,688 was actually paid out, most of it going into one of his bank accounts. None of the money has been recovered.

For the amount of money claimed in the tax returns to be correct, each person would have needed at least $250,000 in savings, but all the people who had their details used were on low incomes or a benefit.

King was given a sentence indication of 20 months’ jail earlier in 2017, but rejected that, cut off his electronically-monitored bail bracelet and went on the run for three months.

The judge said the offending was highly premeditated and a serious breach of trust.

‘‘We rely on the IRD system working by way of trust, because to do otherwise would require unreasonably detailed query of each and every transaction that occurred.

‘‘Your offending can properly be described as determined, systematic, fraudulent offending on a significant scale.’’

King repaying all the money was unrealistic in the circumstances, the judge said.

Instead, he was ordered to pay back $15,000.