More traders named and shamed over tax

HM REVENUE and Customs has ‘named and shamed’ more individuals who have not paid their taxes.

Among the latest defaulters is Swinton-based clothing manufacturer DC Headwear and Manchester-based Kay & Kay Knitwear.

DC Headwear, owned by Daniel Capper, was fined £29,192 for failing to pay £41,703.

Kay & Kay, owned by Usman and Zahida Akhtar, was fined a total of £299,000 on four occasions between April 2010 and March 2011 for failing to pay taxes of £374,000.

Those included have already faced penalties for deliberate errors in their tax returns and deliberately failing to comply with tax obligations.

For the first time HMRC named and shamed five North West businesses for tax dodging in February this year. A further two were identified in May.

HMRC’s Jennie Granger, director general for enforcement and compliance, said: “The majority of people pay the tax that is due but there is a small minority of people who try to evade their responsibilities.

“Publishing these names encourages others to get back on track by making a full and prompt disclosure and cooperate with HMRC to avoid being named – all the named defaulters have exhausted the appeals process. So, we will continue to publish the names of tax cheats every quarter.”