Workers have told how payroll outsourcing firms are filing “phantom” returns with HMRC on their accounts – despite them receiving no official wages.
Bar and restaurant staff claim two English-based companies that they know nothing about have both been filing accounts in their names during the pandemic.
Filings for companies appointed by owners of the Blue Dog bar and Ad Lib restaurant in Glasgow are now resulting in tax demands by HMRC on skint workers.
Our latest revelations have sparked calls for a probe into the irregularities, amid fears many more workers could be hit by payroll outsourcing issues.
The Record told yesterday how staff at the popular venues had their furlough cash cut in June last year after HMRC noticed tax shortfalls on workers' returns.
Employers Alan Tomkins and Billy McAneney, both well known hospitality tycoons, originally matched furlough payments but cut them in October, claiming they couldn’t afford it.
They have instead been coughing up about half the normal wage but union reps claim they are legally entitled to minimum wage.
One member of staff said: “Billy and Alan said nothing to staff about our payroll being outsourced to different companies. The first we knew of it was when different entities started appearing on our HMRC online returns.
“The names of companies were changing, presumably after the earlier ones were being wound up. It’s a mystery to us.
“We are stunned that we are not receiving a penny via the payroll, yet there have been two companies filing phantom returns on our behalf, which is playing havoc with our tax code. We’ve been getting demands for tax on money we never received.”
The worker added: “A bunch of us all got a bill through for £83 in unpaid tax, telling us to pay it by the fifth of February and no-one has paid. How can they expect us to pay tax on wages we did not receive?”
The sole director of the two companies that have been filing with HMRC is 76-year-old Peter Wadsworth, from Yorkshire.
Wadsworth has 27 current directorships, including three for newly formed companies in Glasgow, based at rent-an-office space on the same street as the Blue Dog bar on West George Street, Glasgow.
When the Record asked why two of his companies – Bishopgate Consultants Ltd and Abbey Morgan Consultancy Ltd – were both both filing returns with HMRC despite no cash being paid to workers, he refused to give details.
He said “accountants” are in charge but refused to say who they are or where the Record might contact them.
Wadsworth said: “I don’t know, it’s the accountants who’s dealing with it.
“I’m 76 years old but I’m a director and shareholder only on paper. The people who run the business are accountants, so I can’t really help you.
“I don’t get involved in the day to day running of anything.” He added: “My associates down here deal with the Glasgow people and I’ve never met them.
“I don’t really go out much. I have some good lieutenants looking after stuff for me.”
After the Record asked Wadsworth for an explanation, information on the the HMRC portal for employees was altered, with the Bishopgate Consultants company amended to state it had only been administering wages until October, 2020.
Wadsworth said his intentions were to expand into Scotland before the pandemic struck.
He said: “Our main business is in Yorkshire but we wanted to expand into Scotland but what with Covid and everything, the plans are on hold.”
Unite union spokesman Bryan Simpson has called for an HMRC probe.
He said: “The more we hear about this, the more mysterious it gets but it is the workers who are the victims here.
“We need to get to the bottoms of this quickly.”
His concerns have been echoed by NP Alison Thewliss and MP Stewart MacDonald.
MSP Ruth Davidson has also written to HMRC to seek a rescue plan for workers.
Alan Tomkins and Billy McAneney hired the Hollicom PR agency to deal with the Record’s enquiries but they have refused to comment.
The tycoons have refused to detail the arrangements they have entered into with any outsourcing firms.
AN HMRC spokesman refused to discuss this specific case but said: “Where HMRC discovers careless or deliberate errors in payroll information submitted to us, penalties could apply and would be based on the behaviour that led to the error and the amount of potential lost revenue for that return.
“Penalties for errors due to failure to take reasonable care can be reduced to zero with full and unprompted disclosure to HMRC.”
