The director of a construction training and consultancy company based in the North East has been disqualified for three years and six months following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, which found that he had failed to make VAT payments for over a year and owed HMRC over £160,000 in PAYE and National Insurance contributions.
Robert Thompson was the sole director of Thompson Construction & Training Ltd which traded out of Blaydon on Tyne and went into liquidation in June 2012 owing an estimated £160,000 to creditors.
As well as not making VAT payments, the investigation found that in the six months prior to liquidation, all of the companies trading income was paid to Thompson.
Instead of accounting to HMRC for the associated income tax by way of self assessment tax returns, as he had done in previous years, Thompson instead submitted a P35 tax return on behalf of the company approximately one month prior to liquidation, thereby creating a PAYE liability which the company had no way of paying.
As a result, at least £160,315 was owed to HMRC at the date of liquidation.
Robert Clarke, group leader of insolvent investigations north at the Insolvency Service, said: ‘The Insolvency Service will rigorously pursue traders who seek an unfair advantage over their competitors by not paying VAT or PAYE.’
