Accountant fraud

A Surrey accountant who fiddled his VAT and pocketed the tax and national insurance contributions paid by his staff has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Chartered accountant Peter Rose, 65, of Tadworth - who previously ran Mayfair Associates (Surrey) Ltd, offering pensions advice, accountancy and book keeping services - used a redundant VAT number to invoice his clients. But he held back £150,000 in VAT from HMRC, paid over by customers.

Rose went further - defrauding his own staff over a nine year period by keeping £150,000 in Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and national insurance contributions he had deducted from their salaries. He also failed to pay £65,000 income tax or national insurance on his own earnings

John Pointing, assistant director for Criminal Investigation at HMRC, said: ‘Peter Rose conned his clients and his own staff by persistently and deliberately committing fraud. He may have thought his professional skills made his crimes undetectable, but he was wrong.

‘HMRC is increasing its resources and efforts to track down and investigate tax fraud. We will not hesitate to seek out these fraudsters – we owe it to the honest and law-abiding to do so.’

Rose was arrested by HMRC officers in July 2012. He admitted the offences at a previous hearing and appeared at Guildford Crown Court.