Overview

• Tiarn Payten Nutley, Skye Anne Hoek and Gregory Pimm received prison terms from three months to two and a half years for lodging false BAS that netted over $340,000 in fraudulent GST refunds.
• Eighteen additional people have been charged for allegedly defrauding the ATO of about $2 million through invented businesses and fake refund claims.
• Since its 2022 launch, Operation Protego has prompted compliance action against more than 57,000 alleged offenders and secured 105 convictions for GST fraud.
• Authorities report that investigators have identified over $8.5 million in illicit refund claims linked to the broader probe into GST deception.
• Acting ATO Deputy Commissioner Kath Anderson warned that the agency’s advanced data matching and intelligence-sharing tools will continue to uncover fraud and pursue legal action to recoup stolen funds.