Household Bills
Two charged over £1m charity relief tax fraud scheme
Two tax consultants have been charged with fraud over their part in a £1m tax scheme which took advantage of charity reliefs.
The Times reports the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) yesterday confirmed it had charged Edward Watkin Gittins and Martin Calcutt with cheating the public revenue. Calcutt was also charged with forgery.
The pair are due to appear at City of London Magistrates’ Court today.
The Times said Watkin Gittins was a director of Montpelier, an Isle of Man-based tax consultancy whose offices were raided as part of an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in 2010.
It said HMRC had previously raised suspicions that the company had sold schemes to hundreds of wealthy clients who used them to avoid about £90m in tax.
Prosecutors claim Watkin Gittins designed the scheme, while both he and Calcutt implemented it. The pair are both accountants.
It is alleged that between 2004 and 2007 they helped clients abuse tax relief that allows people to make a gift to charity to offset the value of those gifts against their tax liabilities, Jaswat Narwal of the CPS said yesterday.
Mark Spragg, solicitor for Watkin Gittins, said: “These matters relate back to 2004-05 and a criminal investigation commenced in about 2006-07. Mr Gittins has co-operated throughout the investigation and answered questions and supplied material to HMRC. He denies any wrongdoing and is relishing the opportunity to finally clear his name.”
HMRC declined to comment.
