A director of a company has been banned for reclaiming tax on costs for his own wedding reception, a report has revealed.
The disqualification prevents the director from being directly or indirectly involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for 12 years, said the Insolvency Service.
Its investigation found that the sole director of the event management and production company reclaimed unentitled VAT totalling £19,356 for services providing to him personally. These included his own wedding reception and work on his private residence.
The Insolvency Service also revealed that the man provided HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) with eight falsified invoices in support of the VAT reclaims.
The invoices showed “materially different” details to the originals and suggested that the invoiced were for legitimate company expenditure, said the report.
The director also failed to provide records for a further £121,427 in VAT refunds.
Commenting on the disqualification, Sue Macleod, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service said: “Directors must ensure that any monies they are reclaiming from HMRC is for legitimate, company expenditure and not for personal expenditure. By submitting invoices to HMRC which were for his own benefit rather than the company’s benefit, the company obtained money from HMRC which it was not entitled to.
“Directors also have a duty to ensure that proper accounting records are maintained, preserved and, following insolvency, delivered up to insolvency practitioner so that the public can be sure that all funds spent by the company are for legitimate company expenditure.”