MR JOHN SINGLETON

Disqualified from

2022-09-14

Date of birth on record

January 1981

John Singleton (Mr Singleton) failed to ensure that AIRCOOL AIR CONDTIONING LIMITED (“Aircool”) complied with its statutory obligations to submit returns and make payments on time to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) with regards to VAT and Corporation Tax (“CT”), and from at least 2 October 2017 onwards caused Aircool to trade to the detriment of HMRC. resulting in liabilities of at least £156,653, in that: Value Added Tax (“VAT”) • Aircool registered for VAT on 01 April 2014. • No VAT returns were submitted by Aircool for the VAT periods 12/15 to 09/17 resulting in assessments being raised by HMRC totalling £4,144 and surcharges totalling £322. • A payment of £418 was made on 03 October 2016. • A VAT return was submitted for the period 12/17 resulting in a liability of £5,814 which was paid on 09 February 2018. • A payment of £8,114 was made on 09 May 2018. • No further VAT returns were submitted nor payments made. • Although only one VAT return was submitted by Aircool from period 12/15 onwards, actual VAT liabilities were calculated by Aircool’s accountant from information obtained from Aircool’s own records, up to 31 July 2019. The VAT liabilities accrued as follows: Year ended 31 July 2016 £13,171 Year ended 31 July 2017 £33,558 Year ended 31 July 2018 £61,810 Year ended 31 July 2019 £95,044 • Aircool’s liability to HMRC at liquidation in respect of VAT, based upon the accountant’s figures was £95,044. Corporation Tax “CT” • Information obtained from HMRC details that CT returns were submitted for all periods from 01 March 2015 to 31 July 2018, resulting in liabilities totalling £58,038. This sum includes a charge of £14,823 raised by HMRC on 01 August 2019 as a result of his failing to repay his Director’s Loan the previous year. • Penalties totalling £2,000 were raised between 06 - 16 February 2018. • No return was submitted for the period 01 August 2018 - 31 July 2019 resulting in a penalty of £200 being raised by HMRC. • Interest of £3,371 was also charged. • Between 01 March 2018 and 29 October 2018, a total of £2,000 was paid towards outstanding liabilities and applied to periods 01 March 2015 - 28 February 2016 and 29 February 2016 - 31 July 2016, neither of which were paid in full. No further payments were made. • At the date of liquidation, Aircool’s liabilities to HMRC in respect of CT totalled £61,609. Different treatment • Analysis of Aircool’s bank statements for the period 02 October 2017 to 09 September 2020 shows that payments of £1,053,819 were made from the account of which £15,928 was paid to HMRC, at least £53,906 was paid to him via bank transfer and the remaining £983,985 was paid to other parties. • Accounts for period ended 31 July 2016 show that HMRC was owed a total of £22,319, trade creditors were owed £32,015 and other creditors were owed £1,720. • By comparison, at liquidation trade creditors had increased by £26,077 to £58,092, liabilities to HMRC had increased by £134,334 to at least £156,653 and there were no liabilities to other creditors.