A tenant was "dumbfounded" to learn his home had been used as a fake address by an alleged fraudster suspected of stealing more than half a million pounds of taxpayers' money. A company called Control10 Ltd registered its address at a house in Pentyrch, a village at the western edge of Cardiff, then told HMRC it had made a £507,995 overpayment of corporation tax.
HMRC refunded that amount — before realising the overpayment had never been made in the first place, Cardiff Magistrates' Court heard. The case came to court last month when South Wales Police applied for Control10 Ltd's bank account to be frozen. The order was granted but by this point only £420,485 was left in the account — meaning £87,510 is missing.
During the hearing District Judge Steve Harmes said: "How does HMRC just hand out half a million pounds? Surely they check their records to see if the company first of all exists, and then pays corporation tax." John Lane, a financial investigator from the police force, replied: "In my experience, HMRC takes a lot of applications in good faith."
