Accountant caught backdating documents in $20m tax fraud
High-profile accountant Gerry Incollingo has lost his appeal against his suspension as a tax agent over his role in backdating documents for colourful Sydney property developer Charbel Demian in a $34 million tax case.
Accountant Gerry Incollingo regularly appears in media articles advising on consumer tax.
Last month, Justice Robert Bromwich dismissed claims that the Tax Practitioners Board’s findings on Incollingo relied on testimony he gave in a 2020 court case under a Section 128 certificate.
Courts issue Section 128 certificates to allow witnesses to make self-incriminating statements without the fear that their testimony will be used later to prosecute them.
Mr Incollingo, who regularly appears in media articles advising on consumer tax, had sought a judicial review of a TPB decision in December 2021 to suspend his registration for six months over his part in the tax fraud.
The TPB conduct board, which has been accused in Senate estimates hearings of imposing overly lenient sanctions, opted for a brief suspension rather than deregistering Incollingo, saying that he was affected by “personal and emotional challenges” and this was a first offence. However, he was also found to have presented backdated documents in a separate 2007 court case.
Mr Incollingo’s role in preparing fake documents was uncovered in a Federal Police raid on his accounting firm LCI Partners in December 2017, according to a 2018 judgment by Justice Anna Katzmann in the Federal Court. At the time, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption was tapping phone conversations between Mr Demian and disgraced Liberal backbencher Daryl Maguire, though the raid was not connected with this.
In January 2015, during an audit of the Demian property
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