Morris Wheeler Churchill blogs and news
01279 464400Tax Abuse And Insolvency
HMRC are currently awaiting the passing by Parliament of the latest Finance Act, which will give them a new weapon in their fight against tax abuse arising from insolvencies. HMRC have regarded for some time that insolvency laws are open to abuse and that this abuse...
Rank Group
The Rank Group had attempted to recover excessive output tax declared and paid to HMRC in relation to Bingo sales, which had been incorrectly standard rated since the inception of VAT, forty-seven years ago. Most of the claims had been accepted and repaid by HMRC...
Union Castle Mail Steamship Company
The Court of Appeal ruled on closure notices that had disallowed deductions in corporation tax. The deductions related to administrative matters in relation to derivatives contracts. The Court of Appeal agreed with the lower courts that these type of costs were not...
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is a partially exempt trader who tried to make its overall input tax recovery including the costs of putting on productions attributable to the taxable supplies it makes. These are essentially catering and hospitality supplies made before and...
46 Years For £120million Booze Fraud Gang
A gang from Berkshire that stole £34 million in VAT and laundered £87 million after selling illicit alcohol have been jailed for more than 46 years. Gang leaders Jayesh Shah, Riaz Khan, Fiaz Raja and Muhammad Rasool, orchestrated a VAT fraud. Gang members then...
Golfing Tobacco Smuggler Putt In Jail
A keen golfer who enjoyed playing golf in exotic locations by dodging tax on smuggled tobacco has been jailed. Dhanji Varsani, 56, North West London, shipped in nearly 7000kg of hand-rolling tobacco worth £1.2 million in unpaid excise duty, an investigation by HM...
Callous Fraudsters Jailed for £60million HIV Cure Scam
Two Fraudsters have been jailed for a total of 14 and a half years after using HIV research to try and steal £60million through a fraudulent tax avoidance scheme. Antony Blake, 68, and John Banyard, 70, used their company, Ethical Trading and Marketing Ltd, attract...
Tax implications on gifting property before death
This unusual case came to us following the clients' father passing away. The deceased father had gifted some properties to the children two years before death following advice on signing a retrospective deed of trust. We were asked to check whether the retrospective...
HMRC withdraw Tax Tribunal Case against Churchill Tax Advisers’ client
This case came to us several years ago from another firm of accountants. It involved a take away/ restaurant being under investigation by HMRC’s VAT team and assessments being raised. We challenged the assessments as being unreasonable putting forward our strong...
Offshore tax restructuring of business
This client came to us following a recommendation by their own accountant for specialist tax advice. The client had a successful retail business including online sales. The existing business model meant that it was paying more corporation tax and VAT than it needed...
Malde v HMRC
In the case of Malde v HMRC the First-tier Tribunal dismissed the Appellant’s appeal against HMRCs refusal to allow input tax to be reclaimed in relation to legal fees incurred by a sole trader where the input tax the individual had incurred in dealing with a freezing...
HMRC Application For Permission To Appeal To The Upper Tribunal
This case was an HMRC application for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal in a case where they had initially lost in the First-tier Tribunal on the matter of whether Discovery Assessments issued under TMA 1970 S.29 when they had argued that the concept of...
Judicial Review To Quash Partnership Follower Notices and Loan Charge Notices
In the case of R (on the application of Cartref Care Home) [2019] an application was made for a Judicial Review to quash Partnership Follower Notices and Loan Charge Notices on the basis they were not compatible with the Human Rights Act 1998. The application was...
Inheritance Tax Advice during Covid-19
Claim for overpaid inheritance tax due to fall in stock market or property prices a. Drop in property prices following death If someone passes away leaving behind properties, the inheritance tax is normally payable on the market value of the properties within six...
Tax Investigation Closed Through Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF)
This client came to us from Derbyshire and was already under a tax investigation for failing to disclose income. We considered the merits of the case and suggested that a full disclosure under Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF) would be the most effective way to...
Churchill Tax Advisers Help IHT Planning For Indian Born Clients
This query related to inheritance tax planning and came from an Indian born high net worth individual living in the UK for over 30 years. The client had a substantial estate in India and the inheritance tax position from UK perspective was not clear on these assets....
Churchill Tax Advisers Advise On Structuring For A Large Development
This case came to us from a firm of accountants in London and involved a large property development project. The issues at hand were how to mitigate potential inheritance tax, capital gains tax and income tax implications for the owners. Recent changes in the tax...
Tax Fraudster Claims To Be Spy
Raymond Thomas,73, from Norfolk, made a claim he was a spy for the US Homeland Security to avoid HMRC prosecution. Thomas was originally jailed in November 2017 for four years and eight months after the HMRC found he had stolen £1.6 million. He told family and...
The UK’s Largest Tobacco Factory Ringleaders Are Jailed
The UK’s largest illegal tobacco factory, producing 140 packs of cigarettes a minute has been stopped after a HMRC tax investigation. John Watson Snr, 47, Terence Jacques, 60, and Russell Haywood, 48, were the masterminds behind the £10 million fraud, have been...
No Escape For Tobacco Smuggling Trio
8.5 million illegal cigarettes that was smuggled in window frames and laundry bags worth £2.8 million have been seized, destined for the UK. Three Lithuanian men, Andrej Jerofejev, 53, Vilmantas Simaitis, 48, and Martynas Nazaras, 38, have been jailed for 4 years and...
Capital Gains Tax on Residential Properties from 6 April 2020
From today, 6 April 2020, anybody who sells a residential property in the UK, they will have 30 days to inform and HMRC of the transaction and to pay any money owed. For some this will mean they do not have to register for self-assessment. Non-UK residents selling...
8 Years jail sentence for defrauding HMRC – Tax Investigation
Two businessmen, aged 45 and 59 respectively, were jailed for 8 years after failing to disclose Tax liabilities (Capital Gains Tax) of nearly £1 million in respect of approximately 50 properties sold over an eight year period. Although Madhu Bhajanehatti, 45, of...
Arthur TC 06847 [2018] – Penalties and Information Notices
The First Tier Tribunal has decided that the delays by the Appellant in providing the required information had been fairly serious and significant without a valid reason. The Tribunal also decided the other appeals were not valid as they lacked the required...
Tax cheat and racing driver jailed after tax investigation
Simon Atkinson from Hemel Hempstead has been jailed for a £450,000 tax fraud. He ran a halal poultry business where he had not been complying with money laundering regulations. During their investigation, HMRC officers discovered Mr. Atkinson had used fake invoices...
Restaurant owner jailed following complex HMRC investigation
Chin Seong Lam, aged 60 of Barnet in London, has been jailed for three years following a complex HMRC Fraud Investigation involving £1 million tax scam. Mr. Lam owned two successful Chinese restaurants in London and Portsmouth. He under-declared his sales and as a...
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