Abdul Rehman sold office supplies from his home in Shirley, near Solihull, through A2Z Services and had a turnover of £3m between 2005 and 2011. But he never registered the business with HMRC and failed to pay any income tax, National Insurance or VAT.

Rehman was arrested in 2013 and tried to hoodwink investigators in a bid to cover up his £500,000 tax scam, claiming his tax bill should be as low as £34,000.

He produced bogus invoices from a computer services firm in a bid to prove his claims. Investigators discovered the computer technician who was alleged to have carried out the work was in fact a cleaner.

Rehman was offered the chance to come clean about his tax affairs through HMRC’s contractual disclosure facility (CDF), with the option to make a full disclosure for assurance that a criminal investigation will not be pursued by HMRC. But Rehman failed to act within the 60-day period and the case was referred for criminal investigation, where the full extent of the fraud was uncovered.

Rehman was jailed for two years at Birmingham Crown Court, after previously pleading guilty to cheating the public revenue and money laundering offences in 2015. Confiscation proceedings are underway to claim back the money.

Paul Maybury, assistant director, fraud investigation service, HMRC said: ‘Rehman had the chance to put his tax affairs in order but he chose jail instead. He cheated the public purse of hundreds of thousands of pounds.’

Report by Pat Sweet