The owner of SWB Foods Limited, trading as Hell’z Pizza in Paraparaumu, was sentenced to 10 months of home detention after being found guilty of tax evasion totalling more than NZ$500,000.
Wenbin Shi received the sentence in Porirua District Court on October 15, where the judge reiterated that tax evasion was not a “victimless crime”.
Inland Revenue brought charges against Shi of not providing GST, company and personal income tax returns, along with a charge of aiding and abetting a Paraparaumu pizza franchise in taking PAYE from staff wages without passing it on to the tax agency.
Shi has operated SWB Foods since 2014. Inland Revenue’s audit started in June 2024, when its tax debts stood at NZ$400,000.
The audit led to the review of both Shi and SWB’s bank accounts.
This review found that gross yearly sales ranged from NZ$687,708 in 2017 to NZ$1,390,341 in 2024. Inland Revenue said that Shi stopped filing GST returns in 2020, leaving an outstanding amount of NZ$185,143.86.
On PAYE, between April 2015 and April 2018, Inland Revenue said that SWB “largely filed and paid PAYE on time”. But between July 2019 and November 2022, Shi continued to file returns without paying PAYE to Inland Revenue.
The amount remaining unpaid was NZ$194,295.50.
SWB also failed to file income tax returns for five years between March 2020 and March 2024. Inland Revenue estimates the unpaid amount from this period to be NZ$124,415.77.
“Shi had full knowledge and control over the tax obligations of the company and failed to file 25 GST returns, income tax for five years for SWB, and failed to file personal income tax returns over the same period,” Inland Revenue said.
“He also failed to pay 23 PAYE deductions to Inland Revenue.”
Shi filed all outstanding returns in November 2025, amounting to NZ$503,855.13. Inland Revenue said that Shi repaid NZ$100,000 prior to sentencing, with the rest still unpaid.
This article was first published on Inside Retail.
