A 30-year-old Derbyshire man who worked alongside an accomplice to try to swindle over £205,000 in fraudulent tax repayments from HMRC has been jailed.
Danny Peat from Alfreton, Derbyshire deliberately falsified his online Self-Assessment tax returns by claiming to be self-employed with sizeable business expenses.
By misrepresenting his expenses, Peat, the instigator, had attempted to gain tax payments totalling £120,566 using online self-assessment tax returns for tax years 2010 to 2011 and 2011 to 2012.
HMRC investigators proved that Peat’s income, expenses and employment status were all faked.
Peat also made a similar fraudulent tax claim, in the name of his accomplice Shane Plunkett, of Belper, Derbyshire, for over £85,000.
Stuart Taylor, assistant director, criminal investigation, HMRC, stated:
“Peat and Plunkett made several online claims, which all proved bogus, in an attempt to line their own pockets.”
“HMRC takes tax fraud extremely seriously and anyone deliberately choosing to evade their taxes or making deliberate attacks on the UK’s tax systems will face prosecution.”
The pair pleaded guilty to tax fraud at separate court hearings earlier this year.
Peat was jailed for 16 months. Plunkett was jailed for 6 months, and received an additional nine-month suspended sentence for other police offences of harassment, theft and criminal damage.
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