A former Australian Taxation Office employee has been sentenced to five months in prison after fraudulently claiming up to $60,000 in COVID-19 test isolation payments and income tax refunds, following an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Between October 2020 and April 2022, Kasey Harries used her position at the ATO to access sensitive information belonging to four taxpayers, which she then used to create false accounts impersonating real people to claim the payments from Victorian and federal governments.

Harries pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including obtaining financial advantage by deception and aiding and abetting another person to attempt to commit an offence. She has been granted bail pending an appeal against the sentence. Her appeal will take place in Feb

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