Credit Cards
Savings
Life Insurance
Car Insurance
Mortgages
Travel Insurance
Loans
Home Insurance
EnergyHMRC crackdown on tax-dodging southerners
Filed under: Tax
Share
Text Size
A
A
A
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to crackdown on people abusing the self-assessment system to claim back money they're not entitled to.Up to 400 people will be targeted in London and the south east by a special taskforce which is expected to recover £6 million for the Treasury.
More on Tax
Those caught will face a hefty fine and possibly criminal prosecution.
The taskforce
Special HMRC taskforces have been created to target people who 'are not playing by the rules'.
HMRC has launched 35 taskforces since last year with the first putting the spotlight on the restaurant trade.
The taskforces are expected to reclaim £90 million from this year's tax cheat targets.
HMRC's Jennie Granger, director general enforcement and compliance, said: "The message is clear - if you choose to defraud the tax system or seek to evade tax, we can and will track you down."
Other crackdowns launched
As well as targetting fradulent southerners HMRC has announced three other groups it will be looking at from today.
There will be taskforces focussing on tax-dodging in Northern Ireland, the jewellery trade in the Midlands and fast food outlets in East Anglia .
In it together
The crackdown should help flush out those not willing to play fair.
Last year high profile figures such as Jimmy Carr and Gary Barlow were exposed as using a variety of schemes to limit their tax bill.
While big companies like Google, Amazon and Starbucks were investigated for not paying their dues like everyone else.
Self-assessment
Self-assessment can be difficult to get your head around, so don't risk the taxman knocking down your door.
If you want to make sure you're filling out everything correctly read this useful article: How to get your online self-assessment tax return right.
HMRC's biggest tax cheats of 2012
- Mohammed Shabir Karim and Kamran Bhatti<p> Jailed for evading over £4.5 million in VAT due on platinum trading.</p>
- Imran Bhatti and Raymond Bowden<p> Jailed for evading over £4.5 million in VAT due on platinum trading.</p>
- Operation Hazel Lamp<p> A gang which described over 20 million smuggled cigarettes on shipping documents as babies’ toys was jailed after a covert surveillance operation.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Phillip William Robinson, Vincent Waller, Phillip William Hall, Christopher John Burns and Andrius Kochanauskas – 13 years 1 month</p>
- Operation Hazel Lamp<p> A gang which described over 20 million smuggled cigarettes on shipping documents as babies’ toys was jailed after a covert surveillance operation.</p> <p> Sentencing: Paul O’Meara, Robert Doran, Patrick Gray, Martin Cleland, Mark Sadgrove, Wayne Stock and Matthew Neale – 24 years 6 months</p>
- Operation Hazel Lamp<p> A gang which described over 20 million smuggled cigarettes on shipping documents as babies’ toys was jailed after a covert surveillance operation.</p> <p> Sentencing: Paul O’Meara, Robert Doran, Patrick Gray, Martin Cleland, Mark Sadgrove, Wayne Stock and Matthew Neale – 24 years 6 months</p>
- Vincent Walker and Phillip Robinson<p> Part of a criminal gang which set up a factory capable of making up to 625 million counterfeit cigarettes and five million pouches of fake hand rolling tobacco a year.</p>
- Christopher John Burns and Andrius Kochanauskas<p> Part of a criminal gang which set up a factory capable of making up to 625 million counterfeit cigarettes and five million pouches of fake hand rolling tobacco a year.</p>
- Phillip Hall<p> Part of a criminal gang which set up a factory capable of making up to 625 million counterfeit cigarettes and five million pouches of fake hand rolling tobacco a year.</p>
- Operation Tulipbox<p> The gang set up a chain of bogus companies to trade fraudulently in EU emissions allowances.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Sandeep Singh Dosanjh, Navdeep Singh Gill and Ranjot Singh Chahal – 35 years</p>
- Navdeep Singh Gill<p> The gang set up a chain of bogus companies to trade fraudulently in EU emissions allowances.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Sandeep Singh Dosanjh, Navdeep Singh Gill and Ranjot Singh Chahal – 35 years</p>
- Roy Faichney<p> Roy Faichney, Managing Director of Vantis Tax Ltd, was sentenced to four years for his part in a fraudulent tax avoidance scheme which left charities and Exchequer out of pocket.</p>
- Operation Inertia<p> The gang claimed to have sold four million mobile phones worth £1.7 billion. However, in many cases the phones did not exist. In an attempt to make the trade appear legitimate, over 5,700 fake business transactions were created to claim large amounts of VAT.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Lee Sellers, Mehmood Khan Nazir, Umar Khan Nazir and Marshall Boston – 10 years 6 months</p>
- Mehmood Khan Nazir<p> The gang claimed to have sold four million mobile phones worth £1.7 billion. However, in many cases the phones did not exist. In an attempt to make the trade appear legitimate, over 5,700 fake business transactions were created to claim large amounts of VAT.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Lee Sellers, Mehmood Khan Nazir, Umar Khan Nazir and Marshall Boston – 10 years 6 months</p> <p> HMRC</p>
- Umar Khan Nazir<p> The gang claimed to have sold four million mobile phones worth £1.7 billion. However, in many cases the phones did not exist. In an attempt to make the trade appear legitimate, over 5,700 fake business transactions were created to claim large amounts of VAT.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Lee Sellers, Mehmood Khan Nazir, Umar Khan Nazir and Marshall Boston – 10 years 6 monthsgang claimed to have sold four million mobile phones worth £1.7 billion. However, in many cases the phones did not exist. In an attempt to make the trade appear legitimate, over 5,700 fake business transactions were created to claim large amounts of VAT.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Lee Sellers, Mehmood Khan Nazir, Umar Khan Nazir and Marshall Boston – 10 years 6 monthse gang claimed to have sold four million mobile phones worth £1.7 billion. However, in many cases the phones did not exist. In an attempt to make the trade appear legitimate, over 5,700 fake business transactions were created to claim large amounts of VAT.</p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Lee Sellers, Mehmood Khan Nazir, Umar Khan Nazir and Marshall Boston – 10 years 6 months</p> <p> </p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Lee Sellers, Mehmood Khan Nazir, Umar Khan Nazir and Marshall Boston – 10 years 6 months</p>
- Operation Rust<p> A criminal gang has been jailed for one of the biggest ever alcohol smuggling frauds ever uncovered in the UK. The scam was worth £50m a year in unpaid duty and VAT.</p> <p> </p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Kevin Ramon Burrage, Gary Dennis Clarke, Michael Brian Turner and Davinder Singh Dhaliwal – 21 years 3 months</p>
- Operation Rust<p> A criminal gang has been jailed for one of the biggest ever alcohol smuggling frauds ever uncovered in the UK. The scam was worth £50m a year in unpaid duty and VAT.</p> <p> </p> <p> Sentenced in 2012: Kevin Ramon Burrage, Gary Dennis Clarke, Michael Brian Turner and Davinder Singh Dhaliwal – 21 years 3 months</p>
More stories
