Accountant and haulage boss jailed for tax fraud

An accountant and haulier who lied to employees and customers to commit a £130,000 tax fraud have been jailed after an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Accountant Christopher Alecock, and haulier Barry Anderson, both from Wisbech, “lied” to staff at their haulier business, HL & RV Anderson Ltd, according to an HMRC ruling.

Between July 2012 and June 2015, the pair told employees that National Insurance Contributions and Income Tax totalling £58,968.87 had been deducted from their wages, when in reality these deductions had not been made.

The investigations also revealed that both men had deceived customers, using a deregistered VAT number on invoices enabling them to steal £68,733 of VAT payments and hide their fraud.

Alecock and Anderson were found guilty of two counts of cheating the public revenue and were sentenced to three years in prison and 30 months respectively, at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday (5 September 2019).

Adam Kingsgate, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Alecock and Anderson didn’t spare a thought for their employees, customers or the honest majority of taxpayers they were stealing from. As an accountant, Alecock knew what his responsibilities were, but he chose to ignore them.”