Staffordshire restaurant owner jailed for £90,000 tax fraud

The boss of an Indian restaurant in Stone, Staffordshire, has been jailed after defrauding HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of £90,000.

Monir Miah, owner of the Crown of India was investigated by HMRC following concerns on routine tax checks.

He was given the opportunity to declare irregularities and pay off any remaining debts. However, Miah lied about his income and falsified VAT repayment claims by only declaring half of the business and claiming that trade was bad.

He has been jailed for two years after pleading guilty to VAT offences between August 2011 and January 2016.

Paul Maybury, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: "While Miah, and his family, enjoyed the illegal untaxed income from his restaurant he was depriving public services of vital funding and gave himself an unfair advantage over his honest competitors.

"He was offered the opportunity to put his tax affairs in order through the Contractual Disclosure Facility. Instead he made a conscious decision to make only a partial disclosure of the tax offences he had committed. He could have been spared a criminal conviction had he fully cooperated with HMRC. If you believe someone is benefitting from tax fraud please call our Fraud hotline on 0800 788 887."

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