A judge sentenced a South Auckland couple to home detention and community detention for what he described as determined and premeditated tax evasion of more than half a million dollars.
Ruta and Sili Ah Ching were jointly charged with 14 counts of tax evasion and were sentenced in the Manukau District Court on 5 October 2026.
Sentencing Judge Andree Wiltens said the evasion was a “sustained and deliberate course of conduct by both Mr and Mrs Ah Ching over a period of some eight years, not just through deliberate inaction, but also by providing false information”.
Judge Wiltens added that “by diverting income through multiple bank accounts there was deliberate obfuscation which prevented IRD properly assessing the tax due. Attempts by IRD to clarify the situation were met with zero cooperation and compliance”.
Ruta Ah Ching was sentenced to 9 months home detention with 12 months post detention conditions.
Sili Ah Ching was sentenced to the maximum 6 months community detention, 160 hours of community work to pay back the community for the funds taken and 18 months intensive supervision.
The defendant’s ability to continue working and make further reparation payments was a relevant consideration in the assessment of community detention.
The couple ran two companies - S H S Property Renovation Ltd and S H R Property Renovations Ltd - which were set up in October 2015 and November 2021 respectively.
SHS was struck off the Companies Register in January 2021 for non-filing of Company Returns. SHR was struck off for the same reason in January 2023.
The Ah Ching’s continued to trade under these company names after S H S and S H R were struck off the register and made an estimated $1.8 million in taxable profit over 9 years.
A significant portion of business receipts from the companies were either deposited directly to Ruta Ah Ching's personal bank account and/or transferred from bank accounts for which she is a joint bank signatory.
Bank analysis shows that the few GST returns that were filed after an Inland Revenue audit, were partially false.
The couple must pay $1,000 a month in reparation for the next five years - $65,000 in total.