Supreme Court orders company accused of false accounting to pay £78,000

The Supreme Court has ordered a local construction company to pay a total of £78,776 for failing to pay corporate tax.

Victoria Construction Ltd admitted to two counts of false accounting and one count of possession of criminal property.

The court heard that in the years 2019 and 2020, Victoria had received more income than had been declared in its annual accounts.

This was reported to the RGP after an internal investigation.

Puisne Judge Liam Yeats said the company’s corporate tax return in 2019 purported to show a loss of £70,663 when this was false as the company had in fact made taxable profits of £265,183.

A year later in 2020, Victoria’s tax return showed a taxable income of £6,649 which was false because the company’s taxable profits for that year were £113,863.

This meant the company paid around £887 and £1209 worth of tax when it should have paid £26,518 and £11,386.

Mr Justice Yeats said with surcharges for late payment Victoria’s liability to the Income Tax department in 2025 was the sum of £47,266.

Defence lawyer Philip Dumas submitted that the company had a low risk of reoffending and when searching for a precedent in local law said that, to his understanding, this was one of the first corporate tax prosecutions in recent history.

Mr Justice Yeats referred to the fraud, bribery and money laundering sentencing guidelines which apply in England and Wales when sentencing in this matter.

He added that the company had no previous convictions and cooperated with the prosecution.

“Indeed, it is said that Victoria voluntarily disclosed that the level of underreporting was significantly higher than that which had been identified following the police investigation,” Mr Justice Yeats said.

In sentencing Mr Justice Yeats ordered the company to pay a fine of £31,510 and granted a confiscation order in the sum of £47,266 which was owed in tax.