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The court also orders repayment of $2.6 million for false income returns and BAS over three years.
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Former accountant gets six years’ jail for $2.8m tax fraud
23 February 2023
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A former Brisbane accountant has been sentenced to six years’ jail and ordered to repay more than $2.6 million after he was found guilty of submitting false income tax returns and BAS.
Craig William Morrissey, 55, was sentenced by Brisbane District Court on this week after previously being found guilty of 14 counts of obtaining money by deception.
The court found that over three years to 2014, Mr Morrissey submitted eight quarterly BAS and six annual income tax returns, resulting in the avoidance of over $2.8 million in GST and income tax.
The ATO said it was alerted to the fraud by its “sophisticated data analytics” which flagged Mr Morrissey.
A subsequent audit and forensic analysis showed that between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2013, Mr Morrissey understated his personal income by over $1.5 million.
He also understated the total taxable income for his business by over $1 million, as well as the total sales, purchases and GST reported on the business’ BAS by $226,560.
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“Further analysis concluded that the declared amounts of total sales, non-capital purchases and GST liabilities were all false,” the ATO said.
Mr Morrissey was the sole director and controller of a business that provided accounting and self-managed super fund auditing services.
Judge Tony Moynihan said Mr Morrissey had breached his professional and ethical obligations as an accountant.
"This conduct involves a breach of trust given the self-assessment system employed by the ATO. It is difficult to detect and prosecute, and it is a fraud ultimately perpetrated against the whole community,” Judge Moynihan said.
Mr Morrissey’s sentence includes a non-parole period of three years and order to pay reparations of $2,639,669.72.
ATO Assistant Commissioner Jade Hawkins said the sentence was a warning to accountants and tax agents.
“The action wasn’t accidental or a one-off,” he said. “As a tax professional, Mr Morrisey knew the rules and deliberately chose to avoid them for his own financial gain.
“The severity of this sentence underlines the importance of maintaining the integrity of the taxation system.”
“We expect tax practitioners to maintain high levels of professionalism and standards, including their own tax affairs, as these are the people that Australians entrust to advise and support them,”
“Tax professionals should be setting the benchmark – they play an integral role in supporting the tax and super systems for all Australians. To the small number of tax professionals who don’t follow the rules, know that we will take action against you.”
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