Poole restaurateurs banned for tax offences
Three restaurant bosses have been disqualified for a total of 18 years after submitting inaccurate tax returns.
Jalal Ahmed (50) of Southsea, and Satokh Singh Dhanda (62) and Mohammad Motiur Rahman (56), both of Southampton, were directors of Rancho Steak House in Poole. They have been disqualified from directly or indirectly being involved in the formation, promotion or management of a company without the prior permission of the court for six years each.
The South American-style restaurant was incorporated in July 2011 and, between April 2012 and July 2017, filed tax returns totalling more than £410,000, making payments of £375,000 against them. Following various enquiries by the tax authorities, however, it was uncovered that the company had under-declared tax owed by £120,000.
Due to the under-declaration, the company made additional profits and owed more in corporation tax. The directors also owed outstanding tax on loans they received through the company and had made PAYE and national insurance errors.
In August 2018 Rancho Steak House entered Creditors Voluntary Liquidation after the tax authorities made a claim worth just over £810,000.
In December 2019, the Secretary of State accepted disqualification undertakings from the three directors for six years each after they did not dispute that they had failed to ensure accurate tax information was sent to HMRC.
Dave Elliott, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: "These actions deprive the exchequer of monies needed to provide public services. These disqualifications mean that the directors will not be able to run a limited company for six years and this will help to protect HMRC from future losses."
