Henderson found guilty after long battle over tax charges
Christchurch bankrupt Dave Henderson has been found guilty of seven tax charges involving about $163,000.
Henderson, 60, faced seven charges of aiding and abetting his company Dweller Ltd to apply tax deductions or deemed tax deductions for purposes other than payment to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.
Henderson’s trial took nearly a year to conclude. It started last November and carried on into May, June, August and September.
The offences occurred in 2010. About $163,000 of tax was not paid.
Henderson was remanded on bail for sentencing on November 12. The offending carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail and/or a $50,000 fine.
The convictions end another chapter in Henderson’s battles with Inland Revenue.
Henderson has previous convictions on tax charges and fought Inland Revenue over a $1 million tax assessment in 1996. He eventually got the assessment overturned and was granted a refund of $65,000.
IRD put Henderson’s mothership company Property Ventures Ltd (PVL) into liquidation in 2010 and he was in the same year made bankrupt. Christchurch District Court Judge Gary McAskill said on Thursday Henderson’s decision-making role was illustrated by emails he exchanged with staff members in 2010.
When asked whether funds would be coming from his lawyer Cousins Associates, Henderson gave specific instructions.
Emails illustrated Henderson’s active involvement in creditor payment problems and him giving directions as to the source of payments.
One email included instructions about an electricity bill relating to Henderson’s apartment at the Heritage, which was the sub- ject of a disconnection notice. Judge McAskill said the evidence established Henderson was the heart and mind of Dweller Ltd. He was satisfied Henderson was ‘‘fully engaged in the payment of wages and salaries and the PAYE, and that it was his decision on each occasion that PAYE would not be paid’’.
Evidence showed Henderson decided that Dweller should pay general creditors ahead of the IRD. In addition, he had decided each month after June 2010 that the current salaries and wages be paid rather than the outstanding PAYE.
The judge rejected Henderson’s defence. He had claimed the PAYE payments were outside his control. He claimed Dweller was deprived of the ability to pay the tax by the receivers of Dweller’s parent company, Property Ventures Ltd, who diverted funds from his accommodation businesses.
‘‘The flaw in the defence argument is that such a loss of revenue does not provide any lawful justification for paying salaries and wages and not deducting PAYE and accounting for those deductions to IRD.’’
Allegations by Henderson that IRD had failed to disclose documents had been overcome by the documents being made available through another source.