By James Simons-
A construction director has been banned for failing to declare his income.Martin Baker has been banned from his position at C.J.M Tiling ltd for his failure to declare his income.
A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:act as a director of a company
take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
be a receiver of a company’s property.Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.
Baker, 50, was the sole director of C.J.M Tiling Ltd. (CJMT) which was incorporated in 2007 and traded as a construction company in Cradley Heath, West Midlands. On 3 December 2015 and 4 March 2016, HMRC made unannounced visits to CJMT and identified the construction company had under-declared its VAT liabilities by failing to disclose all its sales. An additional bank account was identified in which sales income was deposited. HMRC raised an officer’s assessment for additional VAT liabilities of £205,262 for the period June 2012 to December 2015, as well as applying civil penalties of £90,146 to the company.
CJMT later entered liquidation on 26 January 2017 owing £469,673 to creditors, including at least £344,221 for VAT, and following the company’s liquidation, the Insolvency Service carried out its own investigations, leading to Martin Baker’s disqualification.
On 21 May 2018, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Martin Baker, effective from 11 June 2018, for a period of 7 years. Martin Baker admitted that he failed to ensure the company declared its true VAT liabilities on returns submitted to HMRC between June 2012 to December 2015, by failing to disclose all its sales.
Martin Baker further admitted that a second company bank account was not disclosed to HMRC. This resulted in under-declarations of VAT due, as a consequence of which penalties were raised. As a result of the ban, Martin Baker cannot promote, manage, or be a director of a limited company.Baker admitted failing to ensure that C.J.M. Tiling Limited (CJM) declared its true Value Added Tax (VAT) liabilities on returns submitted to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) between the quarters ended 30th June 2012 to 31st December 2015, by failing to disclose all its sales. In addition to this, a second bank account was not disclosed to HMRC. This resulted in under-declarations of VAT due over this period of at least £205,262 and as a consequence penalties of £90,146 were raised.
Commenting on the disqualification, Jane Knight, deputy head of insolvency investigations for the Insolvency Service, said:Under-declaration of the VAT due by a company deprives the exchequer of the monies needed to provide public services.In co-operation with HMRC, the Insolvency Service will not hesitate to investigate such misconduct with disqualification as a director the likely outcome.In the year 2016-2017, 1, 200 directors were disqualified . That includes moving out money before liquidation to avoid the attention of their creditors, but such unscrupulous directors are often discovered.