Shop owner hiding £150k of profit loses VAT appeal

Off-licence owner deliberately misled HMRC about his VAT tax returns and used untaxed earnings to pay his mortgage and car lease

Jeyalingam Balasingam is director of Sprowston Food and Wine in Norwich which was incorporated on 14 June 2023.

Questions about the company’s VAT returns led to HMRC issuing revised VAT assessments and penalties worth £36,000.

The company appealed against the assessments and penalties covering a five-year period from 2013 to 2018.

The assessment of VAT was for £23,032 and the penalty came to £14,514.56. The VAT was based on the appellant’s corporation tax returns, leading HMRC to conclude the appellant under-declared their VAT by not accounting for sales.

Balasingham opened the convenience store in 2013, five years after he and his family immigrated from Germany.

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