Hove restaurateur banned for tax abuse

A Hove restaurant director has been disqualified for six years after under-declaring tax.

Emad Abdolkhani, 31, was the sole director of Code Hove since 31 July 2016, which traded the Barcode restaurant on Church Road in Hove.

Code Hove, however, ceased trading in June 2018 and a winding-up order was made against the company on 30 October 2019 following a petition by the tax authorities.

The liquidation of Code Hove triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service into the conduct of Abdolkhani before investigators uncovered that he had under-declared tax estimated to be more than £60,000.

The company now owes over £200,000 in outstanding tax payments together with penalties, charges and interest.

Further enquiries uncovered that Emad Abdolkhani had failed to record the company’s sales accurately and under-declared the amount of tax due in returns from September 2016.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted an undertaking from Abdolkhani after he did not dispute that he failed to ensure that the company submitted accurate VAT returns

His disqualification was effective from 25 August and he is banned for six years from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company

Marc Symons, deputy head of insolvent investigations, said: “Directors must ensure their companies pay the correct taxes but enquiries proved that Emad Abdolkhani failed to do so while he ran the company.

“The restaurateur’s ban should serve as a warning that if you fail to fulfil your obligations and seek to gain an unfair advantage over competitors, by failing to properly account and pay for your tax, you could lose the protection of limited liability.”

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