Children's special needs keep mother out of prison

An Auckland woman has been spared imprisonment for tax offending because her children have special needs - but her husband has not been as fortunate.Faalili Vaa and his wife Belinda Heilupe Vaa were found by the court to be equally culpable but he was sentenced to 26 months behind bars while she was given home detention.They faced representative charges of evading income tax and GST and using a document to dishonestly obtain income tax advantages and a Small Business Cashflow Scheme loan between 2015 and 2024.Both benefited from all business profits and knew that the GST and income tax returns that were filed contained incorrect information, with sales under-stated, and the expenses inflated.Once their tax affairs started being reviewed by Inland Revenue in 2018, they then deliberately chose not to file GST and income tax returns for their kitchen installation work.In total, over nine years the evasion and fraud of income tax, GST and a Small Business Cashflow Scheme loan amounted to $554,998.68.Judge Sandra Alofivae set a starting point of 44 months imprisonment for both before allowing discounts for their guilty please, remorse and autistic children.She said it was on humanitarian grounds that she reduced Belinda Vaa's sentence and converted it to 12 months home detention, because having both parents in prison would be too hard on their children.Alofivae said she was also concerned Faalili Vaa was still self-employed, given the charges.She said ignorance was not a defence and it appeared he did not comprehend the gravity of the offending.