Not paid tax/ni/vat for 14 years..

PlutoinCapricorn

I am not sure how accurate this is, but it says that a prison sentence would be for contempt of court not unpaid debts.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090227042949AAzDLIE

I am not sure whether the CAB will be willing to approach HMRC, but do let us know about any developments.

Have you seen the correspondence that HMRC must have sent? Surely they would have issued estimates and sent 'heavies' round if they were ignored.

Yorkie1

http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/web_sentencing_for_fraud_statutory_offences.pdf

If you go to p30 of the linked document, you will see the range of sentences for VAT fraud. It assumes the offence is committed deliberately rather than recklessly - if the latter applies then the sentence will be lesser.

xylophone

He genuinely thinks that he is VAT registered but does not pay the tax?
Sheltered and isolated? But he appears to have paid tax/submitted VAT returns previously?

I think that HMRC might be advising him to tell it to the Marines?

John_Pierpoint

Remember this is the Alice in Wonderland agricultural industry.
Could he have been charging VAT because his customers demanded he did so?
They promptly took his invoices and reclaimed all that VAT from HMRC, in which case who should be in court for negligence and fraud over 14 years?

What do you get when you put his supposed VAT registration number (yes it has a check digit unlike the NI number mess) into a computer system.

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/

http://www.intonet-technology.co.uk/tools/CheckAVATNumber

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=198693

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=69529

[Just for the record, I worked with a colleague 30 years ago who created a purchasing system for an oil company - It reported shoals of invalid VAT numbers.]

http://www.kmstewart.com/check-vat-number.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAT_identification_number

antonic

Snowballfight some advice for you.

In cases of fraud HMRC can assess as far back as 20 years.

If he WAS VAT registered (and never cancelled it) he would have been sent paper returns to fill in, if not returned he would have been assessed centrally.
By using a VAT number incorrectly its fraud and will be treated as such.

He will be investigated for SA/VAT and assessments raised, I would suggest that an upfront offer of payment made as a sign of goodwill.

If he cant pay whats due he can be made bankrupt & possibly be imprisoned (but that may be dependant on his age).

No repayment arrangement will be considered as he has outstanding returns !

Hope this helps

paternoster

I have seen plenty of cases like this. Where the trader has failed to render returns, but there are no aggravating features(like falsification of records) a prosecution is unlikely. I never saw one where the taxpayer had come forward, rather than be discovered.
(that said, each case on its merits, and this cannot be taken as definitive advice as clearly the full facts are not shown)
CAB are not in the habit of acting for taxpayers, so i doubt they will contact HMRC.
No doubt there`s a few accountants who`d like to get a slice of his remaining assets before bankruptcy, thus ensuring even less goes back to the state to fund schools and hospitals.

ajbisgr8

You might want to consider using the contractual disclosure facility (google it) as it may be a way of avoiding a prison sentence.

The main thing is to show that you want to bring everything up to date but this will probably mean going through all the past paperwork to reconstruct the records as best you can.

As a previous poster has said, with expenses etc the total owed may not be as much as you think however there will obviously be interest and or penalties on top too.

The most important thing is to contact hmrc before they contact you as the penalties are not quite as stiff that way. Good luck.