British business secretary fined for failing to pay VAT

BRITISH BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable has been penalised for failing to pay VAT on earnings from media work. Mr Cable admitted that a £500 penalty imposed by Revenue for failing to pay his tax bill was embarrassing, but that the failure to register for VAT was accidental.

Mr Cable’s earnings in 2009/10 – more than £250,000 – were much larger than usual because of the success of his book on the world recession The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What it Means. Almost £200,000 of his earnings that year had come from the book. Therefore, because his turnover in VAT-liable goods and services exceeded £73,000, he should have registered for VAT with revenue and customs within 30 days.

Mr Cable said he went to revenue to report the failure to register when the mistake was discovered. It, in turn, fined him £500 – half of what it could have imposed – because he had come forward. “The tax was paid in full and the matter closed within four weeks,” he said.

The taxman accepted that he had come forward “unprompted and my oversight was in good faith”.

He said he had made no attempt to avoid tax: “In fact I made every effort to pay what was outstanding as soon as it became clear I was liable for VAT.”