The Durban regional court sentenced Nana Perseverance Magubane to a fine of R300 000 or four years in jail after she pleaded guilty to fraud.
Magubane pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud for failing to submit tax returns to the SA Revenue Service (SARS) and one count of fraud relating to tax evasion.
The state accepted her guilty plea, as she was a first-time offender and appeared remorseful for her actions.
She was also able to settle the amount that the taxman had lost.
Magubane was the director of Imbhenge Trading Enterprise CC which specialises in general construction.
Between 2013 and 2017, she failed to submit income tax returns, thus evading her responsibility to pay income tax for the specified period.
She then submitted an income tax return for 2020 using a fraudulent IRP5 certificate, which reflected a Pay As You Earn deduction of R2.76-million. SARS refunded this amount to Magubane.
The refund extinguished her existing debt with the revenue service, causing SARS to suffer a prejudice amounting R3.72-million.
The matter came to light when the 2020 tax return was flagged by SARS for an audit. It was also discovered that she had not submitted tax returns between 2013 and 2017.
Upon investigation SARS established that no IRP5 had been issued to her.
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