Go to jail for another…
It’s always best to keep on top of your tax affairs. Submit your returns on time and make sure they are completed accurately to the best of your knowledge is the best approach.
Not everyone agrees with this approach though and millionaire businessman Peter Duffield from the UK took a different approach.
As a result, he’s currently serving a 4-year jail sentence after failing to pay £1.3 million in taxes but it looks as though things may be getting worse for him.
The background to the case is that he failed to submit a single tax return for 7 years. He told investigators from the tax authorities that he wasn’t a “paperwork person”. To be honest, that isn’t a great excuse.
He was jailed for 4 years but further investigation by the tax authorities has found that he failed to declare profits on the sale of 3 properties and as a result underpaid tax.
This was a pretty significant amount of tax that was underpaid and a confiscation hearing at Central Criminal Court ordered him to pay £1,232,189 within 3 months.
The unfortunate thing for Mr Duffield is that if he doesn’t pay the additional money within 3 months then he will have to serve an extra 8 years in jail.
The even more unfortunate thing for Mr Duffield is that if he doesn’t pay the additional money within 3 months he will be jailed for 8 years and then after the additional 8 years he will still owe the money to the tax authorities.
In conclusion, it’s always best to stay on top of your tax affairs…
