Cheating The Revenue
The (common) law makes it an offence to make a false statement whether written or not relating to income tax with intent to defraud the revenue or to deliver or cause to be delivered a false document relating to income tax with similar intent.
Any fraudulent conduct that cheats or deprives the revenue of money whether it is income, corporation or other tax, can be charged for serious and unusual cases.
The most common lines of VAT enquiry relate to: -
- Registration
- Timing
- Property
- Construction
- Special Schemes
- Partial exemption
- Retail
- Undisclosed takings
HMRC investigators may carry out test purchases or formulate business models in order to find out whether VAT has been avoided or evaded.
For example where a client had a substantial dry cleaning business with many outlets, HMRC formulated a case based on the volume of cleaning fluid purchased and other purchases in order to show that trading was under declared.
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