An Auckland mother-of-six has been sentenced to eight months' home detention after claiming $190,000 in Working for Families Tax Credits – money Inland Revenue says she wasn't entitled to.
Yesterday, Sasagi Rosalie Filoa pleaded guilty to a representative charge of tax fraud and appeared for sentencing in the Manukau District Court.
On top of the eight months' home detention, Filoa was also sentenced to a further six months post detention conditions.
Working for Families Tax Credits are payments providing assistance for low-income families with dependent children aged under 18.
In an interview with Inland Revenue, Filoa admitted she knew she shouldn’t have been receiving the payments, and the money was used for daily living expenses and personal bills.
However, an Immigration Passenger Movement report showed she had travelled overseas, often with her family, about 20 times from 2015 to 2024.
Inland Revenue said Filoa married in 2011 and has six children with her husband. During a phone call to Inland Revenue in 2015, Filoa said she was a single parent.
She claimed and received full single parent Working for Families Tax Credit payments for seven years from 2018 until 2024.
Records from Inland Revenue showed Filoa received and filled out a notice of entitlement each year and entered nil amounts for her partner's income.
“She didn’t, at any time, try to update IR with the correct information,” Inland Revenue said.
Filoa said she used the money to support her family and meet cultural obligations and not luxury spending – but Judge Luke Radich noted 20 overseas trips by Filoa and her family over eight years indicated a comfortable financial position.
Radich said it would appear the offending was “motivated by greed rather than necessity”.
Inland Revenue said just under $190,000 was paid to Filoa, money she was not entitled to, and she was now repaying the amount at $300 per week.
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