UK Court Nixes Director’s Tax Fraud Dishonesty Penalty (1)

A UK court on Thursday canceled a nearly £2 million ($2.7 million) penalty against the director of a company involved in value-added tax fraud, concluding that the UK tax authority committed an abuse of process.

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs was “inherently unjust” in issuing a dishonesty-based penalty using evidence from a previous hearing where it promised not to press those charges against Ashley Charles Trees, according to an Upper Tribunal ruling.

The case arose out of a dispute over VAT fraud related to Trees’ company, CCA Distribution Limited.

HMRC won a 2020 case defending its denial of value-added tax ...