A restaurant which entered into voluntary liquidation had failed to properly declare and pay its taxes, an investigation has revealed.
The establishment, ran by a sole director, was incorporated in March 2012 but was placed into liquidation in 2017 after being unable to pay its taxes.
The Insolvency Service launched an investigation into the company due to the circumstances surrounding the restaurant’s collapse.
It found that the sole director caused the company to suppress and conceal sales figures, which meant the company under-declared and underpaid the correct amount of tax.
For his role in the company’s illicit trading activities, the director was banned for a period of nine years. This stops the director from directly or indirectly becoming involved with a limited company, including the promotion, formation or management of a company for the duration of the ban.
If your company experiences signs of financial distress, it is important to seek professional help. Clearly, failure to do so in this instance led to harsher repercussions for the director and contributed to the ultimate collapse of the business.
Commenting on the disqualification, Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Head of Investigations for the Insolvency Service, said: “The majority of businesses comply with statutory legislation. However, some companies fail to do so and deliberately underpay their taxes.
“The ban of Azam Ali demonstrates our determination to clamp down on those directors who avoid paying the correct levels of tax and we will levy hefty periods of disqualification whether they cooperate or not.”
