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Kebab and pizza shop owner jailed for hiding £179k from the taxman

What a carve-up!

A kebab shop owner who had sliced off a chunk of his takings and hid it from the taxman has been sent down for 30 months.

Mehmet Tekagac, 43, of Viscount Road, Padgate, in Warrington, lied about his shop's takings as part of a £179,000 tax fraud.

The fast food owner claimed he made around £9,000 a year from the Top Grill Kebab and Pizza House on Warrington Road between January 2012 and October 2015.

But HMRC investigators found he earned far more after examining bank records, his personal income and records of sales made through a website.

Tekagac hid his takings to evade paying £31,244 in Corporation Tax. He also pocketed more than £98,000 VAT he charged customers and claimed £49,528 in Child Tax Credits as a low income family of six during the fraud.

Sandra Smith, assistant director of HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, said: "Tekagac is paying the price for thinking it was acceptable to steal from the public purse. He took his fraudulent income at the expense of honest taxpayers and businesses who play by the rules."

Tekagac pleaded guilty to three counts of tax fraud totalling £179,154 at Liverpool Crown Court. Confiscation proceedings have begun to recover the stolen tax. ®

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