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Accountant fined £10,000 for false VAT claim

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3rd Oct 2014
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A Cumbrian accountant has been given a suspended prison sentence and fined £10,000 after he admitted trying to make false VAT claim for over £10,000.

John Belford from Cockermouth, was given a 12-week prison sentence which was suspended for 18 months, the Cumberland News and Star reported.

He was also disqualified from being a company director for five years.

In May 2012 Belford, acting on behalf of a couple, tried to claim they would be entitled to a VAT repayment of more than £11,000 after construction work at the site, Carlisle Crown Court was told.

The claim was rejected by tax officials who said the building work related to domestic premises and not business activities, so VAT was not recoverable, the newspaper reported.

Belford appealed against the decision and tried to take the case to a tribunal. Some of the documents used in his appeal included a false signed statement, the court heard.

The accountant's “protracted and persistent series of dishonesty” were designed to “embarrass the tax authorities and designed to make profit,” judge Peter Davies said.

He said Belford’s court appearance was a “great tragedy” after hearing he was a man of previous good character who was respected and trusted by clients.

The court was told Belford had already resigned his position as a chartered accountant and directorship of his accountancy business, which has since been sold.

He continues to work up to 20 hours a week at the firm, mainly writing wills. In addition to his suspended sentence, Belford was also ordered to pay £1,000 costs and an £80 victim’s surcharge.

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David Winch
By David Winch
03rd Oct 2014 14:10

The problem here appears to be not that the VAT was not in fact recoverable but that Mr Belford falsified a document shown to HMRC is support of the claim.  That was dishonest - and extremely foolish.  What a shame!

Mr Belford is (or perhaps was) a chartered accountant & registered auditor.

David

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Chris M
By mr. mischief
03rd Oct 2014 18:11

Agent monitoring

If the agent monitoring HMRC say they are getting so much better at results in them weeding out more of this stuff, that would be great.

This guy is local to me and in my view HMRC do not have far to look to find a few more.

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By johnjenkins
06th Oct 2014 11:16

What really

makes this quite thought provoking is that here is a man of good character trying it on. Then he got a lifeline, in as much as HMRC said on yer bike. Yet he didn't take notice. That is the action of a very arrogant man or he wanted to get back at HMRC for some reason. Either way he's lost everything for a few grand.

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Chris M
By mr. mischief
06th Oct 2014 13:23

at least he knew

At least Mr. Belford knew where the line was, even if he ended up crossing over it.  Some handovers I get it is clear the people didn't even know where the line was.  For example, a corporation tax return where capital allowances had been plucked out of thin air as the exact amount needed to give a corporation tax bill of zero.

No support for this whatsoever in the handover files.  This client had been used to paying zero tax since the year dot.  So when I did the books properly and said "The corporation tax bill is X" he naturally spat his dummy out and ended up going on elsewhere.

We are constantly told how sophisticated HMRC software is at spotting this sort of thing, personally I have very substantial doubts about this.

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Replying to johnhemming:
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By sumo69
07th Oct 2014 11:38

How are you dealing with this?

mr. mischief wrote:

At least Mr. Belford knew where the line was, even if he ended up crossing over it.  Some handovers I get it is clear the people didn't even know where the line was.  For example, a corporation tax return where capital allowances had been plucked out of thin air as the exact amount needed to give a corporation tax bill of zero.

No support for this whatsoever in the handover files.  This client had been used to paying zero tax since the year dot.  So when I did the books properly and said "The corporation tax bill is X" he naturally spat his dummy out and ended up going on elsewhere.

We are constantly told how sophisticated HMRC software is at spotting this sort of thing, personally I have very substantial doubts about this.

 

I assume you are taking appropriate corrective action to all relevant authorities?

 

David

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By acountancy.lindsayandco.n
07th Oct 2014 12:03

Dishonest accountant

It's such a shame but the actions of dishonest accountant gets us all tarred with the same brush.

I note about the accountant who acquired a client obviously used not to paying any tax. I wonder sometimes about how sophisticated HMRC's methods are at comparing individuals' lifestyles with the amount of tax they pay and looking into discrepancies.

 

David L

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By ravenglass
27th Jul 2015 22:28

John Belford

He was in the News and Star again today for submitting bogus accounts to Companies House.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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