The boss of a Manchester garage has been jailed for tax fraud after he hid his business activities from HMRC and failed to pay around £118,000 of tax due on his income
Carl Hutchinson traded for five years as DPC, Fine Motors and Fine Garages but failed to submit any tax or VAT returns. HMRC discovered that he had faked invoices and hijacked the VAT numbers of other legitimate companies and used them on customer invoices. He charged VAT on his services and then kept the cash rather than paying the money over to HMRC.
Despite being registered with HMRC, Hutchinson failed to declare any of his income or pay the VAT due between 2009 and 2014. He traded with several companies during the fraud and HMRC collected statements from his customers and suppliers which provided further evidence of his fake invoices and the hijacked VAT numbers.
Hutchinson was sentenced to 27 months in jail at Manchester Crown Court for the tax evasion and associated money laundering.
HMRC will now begin action to recover the stolen tax.
