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The director of a consumer electronics e-tailer is fighting for her business’ survival after being caught up in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC’s) crackdown on VAT carousel fraud.
As CRN’s campaign to highlight the plight of innocent traders hit by HMRC’s Extended Verification process reaches its eighth week, e-tailer Wi5.com, which sells MP3 players and other electronic goods, was waiting for a £44,000 VAT repayment.
The director, who asked to remain nameless, said her firm has been trading since 2004, and does not fit the usual mould for Extended Verification because it deals solely in the UK and does not export abroad.
“We have been waiting for our repayment since January and have already confirmed that no wholesales and no exports were carried out,” she said.
“We had simply ordered more stock to cope with the Christmas rush. I know that the mobile phone and CPU traders have been suffering from Extended Verification, but we are a completely different business to them and this problem seems to be spreading to other industries.”
As a result of the delayed repayments, the director said she has been forced to cut back on costs and let several members of staff go. She has also enlisted the help of her local Conservative MP, Adam Afriyie, who has written to HMRC on her behalf.
“There should be some recourse for HMRC failing to strike a balance between legitimate verification requirements versus innocent businesses,” she added.
“It is evident that businesses need protection from HMRC and the sooner their draconian measures become public knowledge, the better.”
An HMRC representative told CRN the government body could not comment on individual cases due to ‘legal reasons’.
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Do you agree?
surprise surprise
this is just one of over a million things that is wrong in this country. welcome to Labour's socialism
Posted by johng | 21 Aug 2009
hard to believe
the wi5 site looks awesome and its hard to believe that this is happening to them. isnt there anything that can be done to stop this?
Posted by simon | 21 Mar 2007
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