More details have emerged of the reasons behind the Directors ban picked up by Wayne and Gill Sweeting after the Sinclaire (various) Ltd debacle.
Sinclaire Group was put into creditors voluntary liquidation. This at the time being presented as merely a "reorganisation" and anyone suggesting otherwise was simply being mean spirited.
Sadly for the Sinclaire empire their transgressions caught up with them and they both took Directors bans - resulting in them having to liquidate the new Sinclaire motorsport companies.
The details of the ban have been obtained and they read like Sinclaire was a dodgy enterprise from the word go:
He (Wayne Sweeting) allowed The Sinclaire Group Limited (“Sinclaire”) to trade to the detriment of HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) in respect of its Pay As You Earn (“PAYE”) and National Insurance Contribution (“NIC”) liabilities from 19 April 2005, the date by which the liabilities for the 2004/05 tax year should have been paid in full, and in respect of Value Added Tax (“VAT”) from 30 September 2007, the date by which the VAT liability for the quarter 08/07 should have been paid, to 8 August 2008, the date the company entered administration, resulting in a liability to HMRC at the date of administration.
In particular: PAYE/NIC
• No P35 annual returns were submitted to HMRC during the whole trading period between 27 January 2003 and 8 August 2008. In the absence of annual returns HMRC raised assessments totalling £100,000, covering the tax years from 2004/05 to 2008/09;
• An HMRC officer calculated that £44,360.23 was due for the 2004/05 tax year, and the company’s wage records show that £114,056.52 PAYE and NIC was due for the tax year ending 5 April 2006, and that £82,974.50 was due for the tax year ending 5 April 2007, giving a revised PAYE and NIC liability of at least £252,748;
• The only payments made by the company in respect of its PAYE and NIC liabilities were as a result of a payment plan agreed for the 2003/04 tax year and a payment of £31,043 in respect of the 2004/05 tax tear, In consequence, at least £252,748 in respect of PAYE and NIC remained outstanding to HMRC at the date of administration. VAT
• At 30 September 2007 Sinclaire owed £33,279 in respect of the quarter ended 31 August 2007. Thereafter the company incurred further VAT liabilities of £80,312 with only £22,777 paid on 4 January 2008, being allocated against this debt. In consequence at 8 August 2008, the date of administration, the company owed £90,814.31 to HMRC in respect of VAT of which £36,687 is Central Assessments raised due to the lack of returns;
• The last payment made by Sinclaire in respect of VAT was for £22,778 made on 4 January 2008, eight months before the company entered administration. This payment cleared the amount due for the quarter ended November 2007. Different treatment of HMRC
• From 29 January 2007, the date from which bank statements are available, to 8 August 2008, the date Sinclaire entered administration, a total of £2,159,859 was paid out of the company’s bank account with £40,267 being paid to HMRC in respect of the arrears of PAYE and NIC and £22,778 being paid in respect of VAT;
• Of the thirty trade creditors owed a total of £33,632 at administration information regarding the age of their debts is available for twelve of them (totalling £10,245), and shows that the oldest debt accrues from May 2006, with the next oldest accruing from August 2007. By contrast the sums due to HMRC in respect of PAYE and NIC accrue from 19 April 2005;
• Professionally prepared accounts for the period ended 31 January 2006 show debts due to trade creditors totalling £54,218 and debts due to HMRC (in respect of PAYE/NIC and VAT) totalling £296,129. At the date of administration, whilst debts due to trade creditors had decreased by £20,586 to £33,632, debts due to HMRC had increased by at least £51,716 to £347,845, according to the present position;
• Accounts for the year to 31 January 2005 disclose overdrawn Directors’ Loan Accounts (“DLAs) of £115,524. Accounts for the year to 31 January 2006 disclose overdrawn DLAs totalling £206,307 being the same figure as that shown in the Statement of Affairs lodged in the proceedings. Analysis of the company’s bank statements from 29 January 2007 shows a net total of at least £92,221 (excluding wages) was paid to the directors.
£4.50
