Singing ex-Vantis man ordered to pay back £800,000

Singing ex-Vantis man ordered to pay back £800,000

David Perrin has to return £809,692 to the public purse in six weeks or face a further three years behind bars

A FORMER DIRECTOR at Vantis Tax has been ordered to pay back £809,000 after his part in a £70m tax fraud, the Times reports.

David Perrin was jailed for 18 months, while his colleague and managing director Roy Faichney was sentenced to four years after they worked together to share £4.5m in profit from a fraudulent tax scheme that ‘gifted’ charities worthless shares while the tax advisers claimed tens of millions of pounds in tax relief on clients’ behalf.

The relief, of £70m, was claimed against £213m of income and company profits based on the shares being priced at £1 each – but they were only worth the pennies they had originally been bought for.

The pair bizarrely mocked HM Revenue & Customs by singing an adapted version of Gloria Gaynor’s hit I Will Survive, which included the verse: “They should have changed that stupid law/ they should have buggered charity/ but they have left that lovely tax relief/ for folks to pay to me.”

Through the scheme, they generated around £4.5m of profits for themselves, and at a proceeds of crime hearing held at Blackfriars Crown Court, it was heard Perrin had spent his gains on cars, holidays and property.

He was given six weeks to pay back £809,692 to HMRC or face an additional three years in prison.

HMRC criminal investigator Jim Graham said: “With his knowledge of the tax system, Perrin thought he was one step ahead of both HMRC and the law. This cynical fraud not only stole millions of pounds from taxpayers, but also conned innocent charities into accepting gifts of virtually worthless shares, just so Perrin could inflate his own criminal earnings.

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource