Case Studies

Business VAT Investigation

The partners in this city centre business received an unexpected visit by two officers of the H M Revenue and Customs.

They knew that they had been in contravention of Customs & Excise regulations from the start of their business, and were justifiably very concerned. They then turned to Cobham Murphy on the recommendation of another highly satisfied client.

Our team carried out an in-depth forensic examination of all aspects of the business in order to reconstruct the accounting records and determine the amount of VAT understated. Our findings were that a significant six-figure sum had been understated. The partners had far exceeded the parameters which would lead to prosecution by the authorities, with a custodial sentence almost inevitable.

We made a detailed report to Customs and handled all negotiations for our client. We were able to obtain Custom´s agreement not to prosecute and secured major concessions that saw the eventual VAT liability at less than £50,000 agreed with a 75% discount on penalties and with no interest chargeable.

The partners were unable to fund an immediate settlement and Cobham Murphy were able to negotiate a structure for payment which was cost effective for the partnership and allowed them to trade on successfully.