15 Oct 2014

Restaurateur failed to declare tax

3:55 pm on 15 October 2014

Inland Revenue says diaries it seized revealed an Auckland restauranteur's failure to declare more than a million dollars of tax over five years.

In the Manukau District Court today, Khalid Mehmood was sentenced to three years' jail after earlier admitting to nearly 150 charges relating to filing false tax returns between 2005 and 2010.

The charges relate to one of his companies, Areeb Khan Foods Limited.

The IRD said it was the eight diaries seized in 2011 that led to charges being laid in 2012.

They showed three of Mehmood's restaurants made $2.7 million more in sales than he declared.

Mehmood also failed to disclose cash wages he paid to staff.

An IRD spokesperson said Mehmood enabled his staff to take advantage of Working for Families tax credits, income tested benefits and low income housing benefits they were not entitled to.