PRESS RELEASE

(Source : Information Services Department)

Ex-senior manager convicted of evading tax

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     A taxpayer was convicted today (June 18) at Shatin Magistrates' Courts on five charges of evading salaries tax. Sentencing was adjourned to July 14 pending background and community service reports.

    The defendant, aged 44, is a former senior manager of an accounting firm. She pleaded guilty to five counts of evading tax wilfully with intent by making false statements or entries in her tax returns for the years of assessment 2004-05 to 2008-09, contrary to section 82(1)(b) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) (IRO).

    The court heard that in her tax returns for the years of assessment 2004-05 to 2008-09, the defendant stated that she had paid a total rent of $900,000 to the landlord of a property in Kowloon and received a partial refund of $864,375 from her employer. An investigation by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) revealed that the defendant had actually never rented or occupied the property and the five tenancy agreements submitted to her employer were forged. By falsely claiming rental reimbursement, the defendant sought to reduce her assessable income for the five years by a total of $725,509 and the total tax evaded was $116,386.

    A spokesman for the IRD reminded taxpayers that tax evasion is a criminal offence under the IRO. Upon conviction, the maximum penalty for each charge is three years' imprisonment and a fine of $50,000 plus a further fine of three times the amount of tax evaded.

Ends/Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:08

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