Michael Dermott YARWOOD

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Michael Yarwood, a sole practitioner, collected stamp duty funds from clients between 2004 and 2007 but failed to remit them to the Office of State Revenue, forging other self-assessors' stamps, causing a loss of $236,227 to the State. He was convicted on his guilty plea of two counts of fraud and one count of uttering, sentenced to 4.5 years imprisonment (suspended). QCAT found the conduct constituted professional misconduct involving deliberate dishonesty and fraud, rejecting the submission that it was caused by his psychiatric illness. As the asserted cause had not been removed and he was not a fit and proper person, his name was ordered removed from the local roll, with costs to the Commissioner on the Supreme Court scale.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate acts of dishonesty and fraud with some element of sophistication
• Prolonged conduct over three years
• Exploitation of position as trusted self-assessor for the OSR
• Total loss to the State of Queensland of $236,227
• Respondent continued to suffer depressive disorder so asserted cause had not been removed

Mitigating factors:

• Voluntarily surrendered practising certificate in early 2007 and did not reapply
• Pleaded guilty at an early stage
• Disclosed relevant information to the OSR himself
• Suffered major depressive disorder, PTSD and anxiety
• Prior good character
• Did not intend to practise as a legal practitioner