- The sole director of a contracting intermediary has been banned from being a company director for 10 years for fraudulently evading payment of VAT.
- The ban, effective from 11 February 2021, prohibits the director from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.
- Although the company submitted returns totalling just over £273,000, for five consecutive quarters from January 2017 to January 2018, HMRC identified that some of its purchases had been connected to tax losses. HMRC warned the company to conduct due diligence when choosing to engage with suppliers.
- Despite this warning, the director failed to conduct due diligence checks. Liability for a further £373,000 in VAT resulted in the company entering voluntary liquidation.
- The director did not dispute that she caused the company to participate in transactions which were connected with the fraudulent evasion of VAT nor that she knew or ought to have known this (the Kittel principle). The Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from the director on the 11 January 2021.
Aspire Business Partnership ("Aspire") provide WK1 with practical and commercially sound advice in relation to all aspects of compliance, business strategy and conflict resolution. WK1 engage Aspire on a retained basis through which Aspire provide WK1 with advice on an ad-hoc basis.
