IT director jailed for £190K VAT fraud

An IT company director who made more than £190,000 of fraudulent VAT claims has been jailed for three years following an HMRC investigation.

Kevin O’Hare, from Calne, Wiltshire, submitted false purchase documents and invoices to claim VAT repayments through his Cardiff-based IT and telecommunications equipment businesses, Ardkoh Ltd and Ardios Network Management Services.

Checks with the suppliers named on the invoices showed the purchases were fake and only a fraction of O’Hare’s trading records were actually legitimate.

HMRC also found he forged invoices showing inter-company trading between his two businesses.  In total, O’Hare falsely claimed £191,599 in VAT repayments between 2012 and 2016.