A former ATO officer has been sentenced for misusing private taxpayer information for her own advantage. Photo: File.
A former Australian Taxation Office employee has been convicted and sentenced for misusing sensitive taxpayer information to make fraudulent claims.
Kasey Harries was sentenced in a Melbourne court to a total effective sentence of five months’ imprisonment.
She had previously pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including obtaining financial advantage by deception and aiding and abetting another person to attempt to commit an offence.
She had falsely claimed Victorian and Australian Government payments using the sensitive information and records of four taxpayers.
The conviction and sentencing stem from Operation Hay, a joint investigation started by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) and the ATO.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) took on responsibility for this and other ACLEI investigations once it launched its operations on 1 July 2023.
During the investigation, evidence was obtained that between October 2020 and April 2022, Ms Harries used sensitive taxpayer information obtained through her employment at the ATO to create false accounts purporting to be operated by real taxpayers.
She then fraudulently claimed up to $60,000 in COVID-19 Test Isolation Payments and income tax refunds.
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Ms Harries was granted bail, pending an appeal against the sentence to the County Court of Victoria. The appeal is listed on 9 February 2026.
This is the eleventh successful conviction resulting from an investigation the NACC has either initiated or continued since commencing operations.
Previous convictions involve former employees and cases from a number of government agencies and entities, including the ATO, Home Affairs Department (including Australian Border Force and immigration detention officers), the Australian Federal Police and Western Sydney Airport.
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