The Inland Revenue Department says the conviction of a personal trainer from Feilding for filing false tax returns totalling $1.5 million shows it has robust systems for detecting fraud.
Suzanne Judith Bettridge has been sentenced in the Feilding District Court to ten months home detention after admitting to filing 46 false GST returns and four false income tax returns.
Head of investigations at the IRD, Patrick Goggin, says a routine audit revealed she had claimed $1.5 million in expenses, but only returned an income of just over $31,000.
He says the case should act as a warning to other would-be fraudsters that the IRD will catch them and will take action.
