12-year income-tax breach not so taxing

A GYMPIE man was lucky to walk away from court this week without a whopping fine after he failed to lodge tax returns for 12 years.

Picture: Barclay White

A GYMPIE man was lucky to walk away from court this week without a whopping fine after he failed to lodge tax returns for 12 years.

Instead, Anthony James Bailey, 51, was given 200 hours of community service and an $89 handling fee when he faced Gympie Magistrates Court on Thursday on 12 charges of failing to comply with a court order.

Between 2001 and 2012 Bailey failed to lodge 12 income-tax returns, the court heard.

The Commonwealth prosecutor said Bailey was further ordered to complete the returns by February last year, but failed to do so.

After being adjourned to August this year, the prosecutor said the defendant was now facing a maximum penalty of $8500 or 12 months imprisonment for each charge, totalling a fine of up to $102,000 in this case.

Bailey's lawyer Chris Anderson told the court his client had worked as a painter under several forms during the years he had failed to lodge the returns. He said this, coupled with ADD and depression, meant his client became fearful of dealing with taxation paperwork.

The prosecutor said the amount of income tax outstanding was indeterminable and told the court Bailey's offence had been "an ongoing failure over a long period of time."

He said the penalty should reflect the now lengthy court appearance and time the matter was taking.

The court heard Bailey had serious past offences, and while they were not of like nature, some of the offending for the current charges had occurred during a suspended sentence issued in October 2011 in District Court.

Magistrate B. Barrett ordered Bailey to appear before Gympie District Court again to have the suspended sentence dealt with at a date determined by prosecution.