A South Auckland Church minister who stole almost $340,000 through false tax returns has been sentenced to 11 months home detention.

Leaia Pio from a Takanini Samoan language church has also been ordered to do 500 hours of community service.

He failed to file or pay more than $140,000 in PAYE and obtained more than $40,000 in GST refunds.

Pio also knowingly filed six false GST returns under his personal IRD number, claiming refunds totalling more than $12,000 which he was not entitled to.

Inland Revenue Investigations and Advice manager Lynley Sutherland believes the sentence is a win.

"We think it's a victory for all tax payers. The minister has ripped off thousands of tax payers dollars so we're quite happy with the sentence."