BUSINESSES in the West Midlands that have misused till systems to hide sales have one month left to make a voluntary disclosure to HMRC, or face severe penalties.
Electronic Sales Suppressions (ESS) systems artificially reduce the number or value of sales through tills, meaning businesses can declare a lower turnover and reduce the amount of tax paid.
HMRC’s warning follows a day of action targeting ESS users, which saw officers visiting 90 businesses and arresting five people suspected of designing and selling the systems.
Businesses using ESS to conceal the value of their transactions have until the 9 April 2023 to come clean to HMRC.
By making a disclosure before the deadline, those deliberately misusing their till system will see their financial penalties reduced.
Those who fail to do so could face fines of up to £50,000 if the tool is not removed or ceased to be used. This is in addition to penalties for not paying tax.
Marc Gill, director for individuals and small business compliance (ISBC), HMRC, said: “Electronic Sales Suppression gives the appearance that a business is trading legitimately, when in fact they’re really just stealing money from hard working taxpayers.
“We’re urging anyone using these tills to come clean and make a report via our simple disclosure facility before we come to them.
“HMRC is on the side of the law-abiding majority, and we continue to use all our powers to tackle tax fraud”.
Visit https://www.gov.uk/report-tax-fraud for more information.
