Tax affairs land Burton Latimer curry house in hot water

A Burton Latimer curry house has been named by the Government after it deliberately evaded paying its share towards funding public services.

Latimer Restaurant Limited, which trades as Kushboo in High Street, is on the current HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) list of deliberate tax defaulters.

They were hit with a financial penalty of £63,581.28, based on tax they owed of £121,107.25 as part of a default from April 2015 to December 2017.

The restaurant's sole director Shebul Miah, 46, told the Northants Telegraph they had 'settled the bill', although a spokesman for HMRC was not able to confirm this.

When asked why they hadn't paid their tax in the first place Mr Miah, who was appointed in January 2016, declined to comment.

Those who have deliberately evaded tax must repay the amount which should have been paid, together with the penalty arising from their behaviour.

The list of tax defaulters only includes details of those who’ve incurred a penalty because they’ve either deliberately provided one or more inaccurate documents to HMRC, deliberately failed to comply with an HMRC obligation or committed a VAT or excise wrongdoing.

HMRC's list does not details of any penalties which have been incurred due to the person’s careless, rather than deliberate, behaviour.

They only publish the details where those named have not made a full and immediate disclosure when HMRC started to investigate or prior to any investigation.

A spokesman for HMRC said: “We are committed to making sure people pay the tax they owe.

"For the minority who refuse to pay, HMRC has a range of tools available and we are able to publish the names of those penalised under civil procedures for deliberately defaulting on certain tax obligations.

"This is about influencing behaviour by encouraging defaulters to engage with HMRC.”

Kushboo is not the first local restaurant firm to be included on the list of deliberate tax defaulters.

Last year we reported that Sugjarern Limited, which formerly traded as Tong Thai Restaurant in Kettering's Bignal Court, defaulted on tax worth £42,427.22 and was hit with a penalty charge of £16,334.43.

The firm was later dissolved and the restaurant was then run by Newsome Investments Limited.

The sole director of Newsome Investments Limited, Phayi Newsome, was also a director at Sugjarern Limited.