Garage boss jailed for £118,000 tax fiddle

A MANCHESTER garage boss has been handed a jail sentence after cheating the taxman out of more than £100,000.

Carl Hutchinson, of Manor Road, Denton, traded for five years as DPC, Fine Motors and Fine Garages but failed to submit any tax or VAT returns.

He has been jailed for tax fraud for hiding his business activities from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and stealing £118,000 from taxpayers.

HMRC discovered that he had faked invoices and hijacked the VAT numbers of other legitimate companies and used them on customer invoices.

He charged VAT on his services and then kept the cash rather than paying what was owed to HMRC.

Despite being registered with HMRC, Hutchinson failed to declare any of his income or pay the VAT due.

He traded with several companies during the fraud and HMRC collected statements from his customers and suppliers which provided further evidence of his fake invoices and the hijacked VAT numbers.

Hutchinson was sentenced to 27 months in jail at Manchester Crown Court for the tax evasion and associated money laundering.

HMRC will now begin action to recover the stolen tax.