HMRC reveals top 10 tax fraud cases of 2017
By Tom Carnegie, 4 Jan 18
In its ongoing fight against tax evasion, HM Revenue & Customs has revealed its top ten tax fraud and organised crime cases of 2017. The list includes people with offshore accounts, a would-be spy, millionaires, accountants and data thieves. All cases came with large prison sentences.
A millionaire businessman from Kent who failed to file a single return or pay £1.3m (€1.4m, $1.7m) in tax because he wasn’t a “paperwork person”, was jailed for four years.
Peter Charles Duffield, 62, from Orpington, ran two profitable businesses – a 50-fleet haulage business in Essex and a shooting club in Dartford – but didn’t submit a single tax return on his earnings, including profits from the sale of three properties.
The investigation found that gun-enthusiast Duffield had failed to declare his earnings despite his bookkeeper and accountant urging him to do so.
When he was arrested at his home in June 2015, he told investigating officers that he hadn’t submitted his Self Assessment tax returns for the last seven years because he wasn’t a “paperwork person”. This was despite a prior warning from HMRC under civil legislation to keep his tax affairs in order. Arresting officers also seized more than £20,000 in cash found in his car and wardrobe.
