SYDNEY: A former tax agent has copped a massive penalty for scamming clients into claiming oversized tax offsets using a research and development ruse. Last week, Sydney-based Paul Bogiatto

was ordered by the Federal Court to pay $6.51 million, $6.01 million and $3.65 million for his three related entities: Ryusei, Lambda Chase Chartered Accountants and Lambda Chase Service

respectively. Bogiatto was a registered tax agent and chartered accountant between 2012 and 2015 when he advised 12 clients about lodging overstated claims for an R&D tax offset.

Bogiatto systematically exaggerated his clients’ spending with claims that didn’t reflect actual expenditure, the ATO said in a statement. In total, the R&D tax offset refunds that were