Contact Centre Boss hit with 4-year ban for £1m Tax Abuse – Liam Mccreadie, 26, from Aberdeen, has been disqualified as a director for 4 years after failing to pay more than £1.1 million in taxes and not submitting tax returns for his two companies.
Mccreadie was the sole director of two companies that both traded as a call centre business.
Lakemere Global Holdings Ltd, was incorporated in October 2017 and traded as AGO Outsourcing in both East Kilbride and Newcastle until it went into liquidation in October 2019, owing more than £794,000.
His other company, EK Sales Ltd, was incorporated in September 2017 – just a month before Lakemere went into liquidation – and took over trading as AGO Outsourcing until it also went into liquidation in October 2020, with debts of more than £515,000.
The contact centre sites had been billed by AGO Outsourcing managers as “state of the art” sales centres, but had reportedly become subject to disputes with staff over payment of wages by October 2019.
The liquidation of the two companies led to an investigation by the Insolvency Service which found that Lakemere Global Holdings Ltd had not submitted tax returns between May and October 2019 and owed business and employee-related tax of around £629,000.
Investigators also discovered that EK Sales Ltd had failed to submit tax returns between December 2019 and August 2020 and owed business and employee-related tax of around £513,000.
Across both companies, the repeat abuse of tax led to a debt to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of more than £1,143,000.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Liam Mccreadie, after he didn’t dispute that he had failed to ensure that both Lakemere Global Holdings Ltd and EK Sales Ltd submitted returns and payment to HMRC, and caused the companies to trade to the detriment of HMRC in respect of business and employee-related tax.
His disqualification starts on 7 November 2022 and lasts for 4 years. The ban prevents Mccreadie from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.
Steven McGinty, Investigation Manager at the Insolvency Service, said,“The Insolvency Service will rigorously pursue traders who seek an unfair advantage over their competitors by not paying tax to the Government.
“If you run a limited company, you have statutory protections as well as obligations. If you fail to comply with your obligations, The Insolvency Service will investigate you and you could lose the protection of limited liability.
“Mr McCreadie has paid the price for failing to do that, as he cannot now carry on in business other than at his own risk.”
EK Sales Limited – Company Registration 12220306
Lakemere Global Holdings Limited – Company Registration 11017996.
Both companies trading as AGO Outsourcing.
Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.
