Glenn Wheatley – a cautionary tale!
One of Australia’s most high profile music entrepreneurs, Glenn Wheatley was sentenced to jail on 19 July 2007 for tax evasion. He was sentenced to two and a half years and ordered to serve a minimum of 15 months before being released on a $5,000 recognisance.

Glenn Wheatley had been netted as part of Operation Wickenby (one of Australia’s largest tax fraud investigations).

The crimes
In May 2003, Wheatley paid $400,000 to an entity known as Overseas Promotions, which was purported to be a fee for the company's role in the pay-for-view component of a boxing match between Kostya Tszyu and Jesse James Leija in 2003.
In fact, American-based company Showtime held the pay-per-view rights to the fight.
The money was held by Strachans (a Swiss accounting services firm) and Wheatley drew on the $400,000 using debit cards in Australia.
Wheatley had also admitted to not paying tax on income earned from John Farnham's Talk of the Town Tour.
Wheatley has since repaid the due tax amount of $318,092, notionally representing the amount that had been “dodged”.

The sentence
In sentencing him, the Judge said he would have imposed the maximum sentence of three years and nine months (which would have seen Wheatley jailed for at least two years without parole) if Wheatley had not co-operated.

The Judge also took into account Wheatley’s promise to give evidence against other people who may be charged as part of Operation Wickenby in reducing his sentence by one-third.

Moral of the story
The concept of tax evasion casts a wide net and can cover an extensive range of arrangements. A common example is where an Australian resident taxpayer nominates a person living offshore to hold shares in an offshore company on trust for them. If this person subsequently receives dividends from the company and the Australian taxpayer does not reveal this in their tax return, this may well be considered tax evasion.

Wheatley’s sentence demonstrates the current judicial climate and attitude towards such conduct. It illustrates that tax evasion is a serious offence where offenders can not only be subject to financial penalties, they can potentially be jailed.

This information has been prepared in good faith, is in the nature of general comment only, and neither purports, nor is intended, to be advice on any particular matter. You should not act or rely upon any matter or information contained in or implied without taking appropriate professional advice which relates specifically to your particular circumstances. The authors and consultants expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person (whether a reader or not) who acts or fails to act as a consequence of reliance upon the whole or any part of this information.