"I Didn't Know What '$' Means" Fails as Tax Defense

From Business Day:

Stephen Blackman tried explaining his failure to disclose more than $300,000 in income by claiming he didn't know what the "$" symbol meant.

Sam Ellis, appearing for the Inland Revenue Department, said in a letter dated February 9, 2009, Blackman wrote he had not been paid by his company Plant and Platform Consultants Ltd, of New Plymouth.

"You may have been confused by forms provided to you by my company which contained impressive numbers preceded by a "$" symbol," Blackman wrote. "I am unaware of the meaning of this symbol, but I can assure you I am not aware of anyone at my company who would swear under oath that this represented money paid to me by the company." But when Blackman appeared before Judge Robert Murfitt in the New Plymouth District Court he pleaded guilty to two charges of filing false or incomplete tax returns for the years ending March 31, 2007 and 2008.