A Christchurch pair have been jailed for tax fraud after trying to obtain more than $400,000 through income tax refunds, student loan payments and Working for Families payments.
Inland Revenue said Richard Jody Rapana and Marlanna Shirley Diana Harris received just over $115,000 which they were not entitled to between 2019 and 2022.
They were each charged with three representative charges of dishonestly and without claim of right using a document with intent to obtain a pecuniary advantage.
Harris, who was already serving a near four-year prison term on dishonesty charges, was sentenced to an additional 14 months in June for the tax fraud.
"The sentencing Judge referred to the aggravating factors in the case - the premeditation, offending while on sentence for other charges, the personal benefit she obtained, and what His Honour called the "huge loss" of revenue affecting all taxpayers," Inland Revenue said.
Rapana was sentenced on September 12, and had nine months added to the four-year sentence he was already serving for a burglary, Covid wage subsidy fraud, and Facebook Marketplace fraud committed over a similar period.
Inland Revenue began investigating in 2019 before placing the investigation on hold while supporting the government's response to Covid-19.
