Wellington, Feb 3 NZPA - A Nelson man has been jailed for more than two years on tax fraud charges.

Simon James Moir Hedley, a resource management and coastal marine consultant, was sentenced in Nelson District Court today to two years and three months prison and also ordered to pay reparation of $113,113.

He had earlier admitted 20 charges of providing false information and making false claims in relation to refunds and tax payments.

Hedley registered for GST for in 2003, but investigations into his returns revealed discrepancies in the claims he made.

Despite several requests from Inland Revenue, he failed to produce records to verify all the expenditure claims made in his GST returns.

Instead he presented tax invoices created for fictitious work and correspondence that he had made up to try to support his false claims, Inland Revenue said.

The reparation covered outstanding tax from the fraudulent returns of $52,071.83, as well as penalties and interest of $61,041.48.

Inland Revenue assurance investigations manager Lynley Sutherland said the jail sentence sent a strong message.

"Both Inland Revenue and the courts view tax fraud very seriously.

"Inland Revenue has specialist staff working on uncovering tax evasion and fraud, and those who set out to defraud the system will be caught," she said.

"People like Hedley are committing a crime that is robbing the community of funds that provide public services such as schools and hospitals."

NZPA WGT gt sl