The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Unions warn local expertise will be lost
Tax office: Claims that recent Dundee case highlights impact of office closure
Union officials say last week’s highprofile case of the £1 million tax-scam Dundee newsagents shows what may be overlooked when “hundreds of years of experience” is lost with the closure of local tax offices.
Some 130 employees are expected to be affected by the closure of HMRC’s Caledonian House at Greenmarket, scheduled to take place before 2017-18.
It is one of 17 offices to close and be replaced by two new regional centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh by 2019-20 under the UK Government proposals.
Staff will likely have to choose between moving to the new base in Edinburgh or taking a redundancy package.
However, union officials have warned cases could fall through the cracks when the move goes ahead.
They say the case of Mohammed Arshid, 61, and Maqsoodan Arshid, highlights the need for local expertise.
The pair, who were directors of Nethergate Newsagents, had been under-declaring and concealing the business’ liabilities for 17 years.
Stuart Jeffrey, PCS branch secretary of the Dundee HMRC branch, said: “My understanding is that referral to the fraud investigation service came from local knowledge.
“There is no way of knowing whether or not it would have happened following the removal of local knowledge, but one could suggest that local knowledge won’t be here (when the branch closes).
“Will someone in Glasgow or Edinburgh pick up on that? It’s not just local knowledge but vast amounts of experience in Dundee. They are replacing hundreds of years of experience with new recruits to go ahead with these plans.”
A five-year probe by the HMRC revealed Mr Arshid submitted false P35 end-of-year returns to HMRC for tax and National Insurance contributions between 1996/97 and 2012/13.
Mr Arshid also submitted incorrect tax returns between November 2005 and 2007, resulting in lost revenue and penalties of £221,282.
Mr Arshid and his wife admitted using the money for home improvements, to pay for private education and to top up employees’ wages.
He also concealed VAT liabilities between February 1997 and November 2012 resulting in lost revenue, including penalty charges, of £170,182.
The company went into compulsory liquidation in July 2014 with debts of £1,044,973.
Mr Arshid was banned from acting as a director of a company for 11 years, while his wife can’t take a director’s post for two years.
An HMRC spokesman said: “We don’t comment on specific cases for reasons of taxpayer confidentiality.
“We are cutting down on tax avoidance and evasion with modern technology, use of data and collaboration – HMRC’s new regional centre will help us to achieve this, not hinder it.
“HMRC does not need to physically be in a location to see and stop wrongdoing in the tax system.”