A tax adviser was found guilty of cheating the public revenue by dishonestly submitting and facilitating tax relief claims that falsely stated the value of shares gifted to charities.
David Perrin sold the ‘bogus’ tax avoidance scheme to wealthy individuals including bankers and sports stars between 2005 and 2006, when he was deputy managing director at Vantis Tax Limited, to exploit tax law on giving shares to charity. He tried to defraud honest taxpayers of £70m, HMRC said.
Perrin, aged 46, of Leagrave, Luton, Bedfordshire, will be sentenced on 9 February.
‘Perrin used a network of finance professionals to advise more than 600 wealthy clients to buy shares, worth a few pence each, in four new companies he had set up. He then listed the companies on the Channel Islands stock exchange and paid people money from an offshore account to buy and sell the shares simply to inflate their price,’ HMRC said in a press release.
‘The share owners then donated 329m shares to various unsuspecting registered charities and tried to claim £70m tax relief on a total of £213m of income and company profits. This was based on the shares being worth up to £1 each, rather than the pennies they were originally bought for. Perrin also used the bogus scheme to claim money back.’
Jim Graham, HMRC Criminal Investigator, said: ‘With his knowledge of the tax system, Perrin thought that 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.’
The Mail on Sunday quoted Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s Permanent Secretary for Tax, as saying: ‘We will always pursue tax advisers who act fraudulently in order to line the pockets of crooks at the expense of the honest public.’
Vantis plc went into administration in 2010. Many of its businesses, including accounting and tax divisions, were acquired by RSM Tenon.
Guidance on tax relief for gifts of land, buildings or shares to charities is provided on the HMRC website.
A tax adviser was found guilty of cheating the public revenue by dishonestly submitting and facilitating tax relief claims that falsely stated the value of shares gifted to charities.
David Perrin sold the ‘bogus’ tax avoidance scheme to wealthy individuals including bankers and sports stars between 2005 and 2006, when he was deputy managing director at Vantis Tax Limited, to exploit tax law on giving shares to charity. He tried to defraud honest taxpayers of £70m, HMRC said.
Perrin, aged 46, of Leagrave, Luton, Bedfordshire, will be sentenced on 9 February.
‘Perrin used a network of finance professionals to advise more than 600 wealthy clients to buy shares, worth a few pence each, in four new companies he had set up. He then listed the companies on the Channel Islands stock exchange and paid people money from an offshore account to buy and sell the shares simply to inflate their price,’ HMRC said in a press release.
‘The share owners then donated 329m shares to various unsuspecting registered charities and tried to claim £70m tax relief on a total of £213m of income and company profits. This was based on the shares being worth up to £1 each, rather than the pennies they were originally bought for. Perrin also used the bogus scheme to claim money back.’
Jim Graham, HMRC Criminal Investigator, said: ‘With his knowledge of the tax system, Perrin thought that 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.’
The Mail on Sunday quoted Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s Permanent Secretary for Tax, as saying: ‘We will always pursue tax advisers who act fraudulently in order to line the pockets of crooks at the expense of the honest public.’
Vantis plc went into administration in 2010. Many of its businesses, including accounting and tax divisions, were acquired by RSM Tenon.
Guidance on tax relief for gifts of land, buildings or shares to charities is provided on the HMRC website.
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