By Sally Hind

Copyright dailyrecord

Scots firms named and shamed for dodging tax have been fined almost £600,000. An Edinburgh construction business, a Midlothian motor accident repair firm and a North Ayrshire takeaway were among six companies to appear on the latest ‘deliberate tax defaulters’ list published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) . Details of 109 cases across the UK where people and businesses received penalties for deliberately failing to meet their tax obligations of more than £25,000 were published, with fines totalling over £70 million. HMRC say in each case, the taxpayer failed to fully disclose their default at the outset of an investigation. Kevin Hubbard, HMRC’s Director of Individuals and Small Business Compliance, said: “We are determined to tackle the minority who deliberately refuse to pay what they owe and will pursue all available avenues to recover unpaid amounts. “Publishing the names of deliberate defaulters sends a clear message that this behaviour has consequences and encourages compliance across the board.” D H Autosprayers Ltd, a Motor accident repairs firm, based in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, was listed as having defaulted on tax of £493,644 between October 2022 to December 2023. It was hit with a £336,911.99 penalty. North Ayrshire takeaway Le Bugatti Gare Limited, trading as ‘Volcano’ in Irvine was listed as having defaulted on £208,426 tax between April 2016 to and March 2023. The penalty to be paid was £127,660.84. A handyman firm boss, Raymond John Foote, trading as ‘RF Services’ from Selkirk, and formerly Galashiels, was listed as defaulting on £89,320.19 between Apr 2016 and Apr 2023 – racking up a £41,315.36 penalty. Gail Foote, a bookkeeper of the same addresses was listed as defaulting on tax of £63,505.01 between April 2016 to Apr 2023 leading to a £31,117.42 penalty. Edinburgh construction firm Black Label Developments Ltd was hit with a £43,011.62 penalty after being listed as defaulting on £66,292.19 of tax between October 2021 to Jun 2023. Fife builder Gheorghe Stoica, Builder, from Kirkcaldy, was listed as defaulting on £26,682.11 tax between April 2021 and April 2023, with a penalty of £17,743.59. The details, which are published quarterly and remain online for 12 months, only include those penalised under civil procedures, not criminal convictions for fraud. The largest penalty issued was a fine of almost £56.9m to a management consultancy formerly known as ‘Hive 360 Employer Limited, for its failure to pay tax of almost £88m. A related company, formerly known as Hive 360 002 Limited, failed to pay over £10m in tax, resulting in a penalty of more than £6.5m.