Pub landlord handed ban after £7.9m tax shortfall

A pub landlord who venues including the Blue Bell Inn, Up ‘n’ Down Under, Cucamara and Fat Cat in Nottingham and the Fat Cat in Derby, has been handed an 11-year ban for pub landlord after causing the company to submit inaccurate documents to tax authorities.

Kirpal Rathaur, from Nottingham, was the appointed director at the same time as Edward & Moore was incorporated. But, close to 10 years later, the company entered into Creditors Voluntary Liquidator in November 2018, owing close to £6.9m to creditors.

The liquidation triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service, which established that for more than four years between February 2010 and November 2014, Kirpal Rathaur caused Edward & Moore to submit inaccurate returns to the tax authorities, generating an outstanding shortfall of close to £7m.

Further enquiries discovered that in March 2015, Kirpal Rathaur falsely took Edward & Moore off of the business tax list. He then caused Edward & Moore to continue trading until liquidation and because the company hadn’t been paying business tax for several years, the company built-up liabilities of £7.9m.

For the life of the company, Kirpal Rathaur failed to maintain and/or preserve adequate accounting records. This meant it was impossible to establish what happened to the £7.9m in unpaid taxes, how much in total was owed to the company’s creditors, including the tax authorities, as well as establishing how much money Kirpal Rathaur withdrew from the company.

On 29 April 2019 the Secretary of State accepted an 11-year disqualification undertaking from Kirpal Rathaur. Effective from 20 May 2019, he is banned for 11 years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Martin Gitner, deputy head of investigations, of the Insolvency Service said: “Directors cannot pick and choose what taxes they want to pay but this did not deter Kirpal Rathaur from avoiding paying business duty that he rightfully owed.

“An 11-year disqualification is a substantial ban, seriously curtailing Kirpal Rathaur ability to run companies, and demonstrates our commitment to investigate and ban those directors who abuse the tax systems and their responsibilities.”