An Essex electrician has been sentenced to 10 months in jail for an £80,000 tax fraud.

Steve Newman age 37, of Sudbury Essex, ran electrical company SN Electricians.  He registered for VAT in 2006. He claimed business had been poor and so paid no tax to HMRC, and instead claimed £40,000 in VAT repayments.  HM Revenue and Customs carried out a tax investigation and found that his records proved he actually owed HMRC almost £80,000.

Newman told the tax officers that he had lost all of his business records when he was clearing out his home. He said his business was not making any money and that he had borrowed money from family members to keep him afloat.  But when the tax investigators confronted him with the evidence of his financial records he admitted doing cash jobs and that the turnover on his VAT returns wrong.  He also admitted overstating the purchases on his VAT returns.

Newton was convicted for the fraudulent evasion of VAT of £77,941.  He was given a custodial sentence of 15 months reduced to 10 months imprisonment – based on the Early Guilty Plea Scheme – with a minimum of 5 months to be served before review.

The taxman has now started Confiscation proceedings.

HMRC have a rolling programme of Tax Disclosure Campaigns. They recently had one for electrical contractors called The Electricians Tax Safe Plan, which raised nearly £1.3m.   These disclosure campaigns allow people to come forward and settle any tax irregularities on favourable terms, and avoid criminal prosecution.

Lynam Tax Investigation Experts have a vast amount of practical experience in managing serious tax fraud investigations.  If you are worried about a tax investigation we can advise you on the best course of action.  If appropriate, we can help you manage any necessary disclosures.  If you are facing criminal charges we can help you obtain first class legal representation, in order to obtain the optimum outcome for you, your business and your family.

*For a free, private, no obligation consultation, call Paul Lynam today on 0845 643 9997
or Andrew Nutbrown on 07718 778710