At Aylesbury Crown Court on Tuesday, Andrew Fisher, 43, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
Now living in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, he was charged with the fraudulent evasion of £23,724 of VAT in relation to his courier firm, contrary to section 72 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
They found that Fisher set up the courier service – Pronto Pronto Ltd – to steal more than £23,724 of VAT.
He registered the business for VAT in 2009 and submitted a number of VAT repayment claims between 2010 and 2013 even though his Lockerbie-based business never traded and was dissolved in November 2011.
In 2013 he moved to Hertfordshire and continued to submit false VAT returns for a business that didn’t exist. He was arrested in August 2014.
Commenting following the sentencing, a spokesman for HMRC said: “Andrew Fisher knew he was committing fraud as his business never traded. He would have continued his criminal activity had our investigations not stopped him.
“Anyone with information about this type of fraud can contact the 24-hour hotline on 0800 59 5000.”
