An East Kilbride businessman has been jailed for stealing £49,000 in a 14-year tax fraud.
Ronald Bradley, of Cadell Gardens, failed to pay the correct Income Tax and National Insurance contributions between April 2000 and April 2014, a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation found.
A sole trade, Bradley provided water treatment services to commercial businesses through his firm, Bradley Water Hygiene.
But the 58-year-old failed to submit self assessment tax returns between 2000 and 2012, before under-declaring his earnings between 2012 and 2014 in order to evade paying tax.
Officers also discovered that Bradley charged customers £25,000 of VAT that he wasn’t entitled to and failed to pay it to HMRC.
A HMRC spokesman said: “Bradley failed to declare his earnings for 12 years and when he did, he lied about the amount of income he received.
“Alongside his VAT fraud, Bradley showed blatant disregard for his tax obligations and stole money that funds the vital public services we all use.
“If you know anyone who is committing tax fraud, you can report them online or by calling our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”
Bradley pleaded guilty to the fraudulent evasion of Income Tax, National Insurance Contributions and VAT at Hamilton Sheriff Court in July.
He was sentenced to 11 months in jail.
