James Redmond Burrows, 35, now of Hawthorn East, Victoria, appeared before Magistrate Sharon Cure via a Zoom call on the six counts of stealing by misappropriation, 17 counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and one count of obtaining a financial advantage by deception between July 12 and July 31, 2019.

Ms Cure asked Mr Burrows whether he had engaged a lawyer. "At this stage, no," he said.

Burrows said he had been talking to a lawyer who could not attend.

When Ms Cure asked him who it was Mr Burrows stated a given name but said he was not sure of the surname.

Police prosecutor Mike Bonde said many of the charges were indictable Commonwealth matters.

In May, Ms Cure ordered that Mr Borrows appear via a Zoom call rather than by mobile phone as he had previously done.

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"I will adjourn this again so that you can organise legal representation. I urge you to speak to someone to represent you either here or there," she said. Ms Cure adjourned the case to August 4 at 2.15pm

Police allege Mr Burrows, through his role as a tax agent, misappropriated individual tax returns and falsified business activity statements for his financial benefit from September 2017 to March 2020.

Court documents reveal that Mr Burrows is alleged to have stolen more than $14,000 from Benjamin Caulfield, more than $52,000 from Grant and Marie Chugg, $21,843 from Lisa Miller and obtained a financial advantage of more than $20,000 from Heather Williams and $19, 216 from Blue Phoenix Super.