HMRC Missing Trader Fraud

What Are The Indicators Of Missing Trader, MTIC And Carousel Fraud ?

If you are involved in the Excise Industry you may at sometime have received a letter from HMRC referring to your involvement with a Missing Trader or being in a supply chain in which there is MTIC fraud. This may also extend to carousel fraud.

HMRC Missing Trader /MTIC /Carousel FraudA brief overview of Missing Trader Intra-Community Fraud. This often referred to as “MTIC” fraud, is covered below as there are several different forms that MTIC Fraud can take.

Within your due diligence, companies should be considering the risk presented by the supply chain within which they are operating. Whilst the name and details of your supplier’s own supplier are unlikely to be provided for competition reasons, questions such as:-

  • What level of the supply chain they are at (are they a manufacturer or wholesaler etc);
  • What sort of trades/movements the company looks to undertake; and
  • Where suppliers are located etc

These are all good indicators from which to assess the level of risk that is present.

For a confidential free discussion, call us today on 01908 414990,  alternatively emails us at Hello@altion-law.co.uk or complete our Free Enquiry Form and we will call you back.

Types of MTIC Fraud

Asking all the questions in the world will not help if you do not understand what risks you are looking for, and how the fraud takes place. As such this article tries to set out a few of the possible types of MTIC fraud that can occur.

MTIC is known as an Acquisition Fraud

In its simplest form MTIC is known as an acquisition fraud. A trader imports goods from another Member State. No VAT is payable on the import. The trader then sells on those goods to a domestic buyer and charges VAT. He dishonestly fails to account for the VAT to HMRC and disappears. The importer is labelled a “missing trader” or “defaulter”.

Import and an Export

The next level of sophistication involves both an import and an export. A trader once again imports goods from another Member State. No VAT is payable on the import. The trader then sells on those goods to a domestic buyer and charges VAT. He dishonestly fails to account for the VAT to HMRC and disappears. The domestic buyer sells on to an exporter at a price which includes VAT. The exporter exports the goods to another Member State. The export is zero-rated. So the exporter is, in theory, entitled to deduct the VAT that he paid. From what would otherwise be his liability to account to HMRC for VAT on his turnover. If he has no output tax to offset against his entitlement to deduct, he is, in theory, entitled to a payment from HMRC. Thus HMRC directly parts with money.

Carousel Fraud

Sometimes the exported goods are re-imported and the process begins again.

In this variant the fraud is known as a carousel fraud. There may be many intermediaries between the original importer and the ultimate exporter. These intermediaries are known as “buffers”. The ultimate exporter is labelled a “broker”. A chain of transactions in which one or more of the transactions is dishonest has conveniently been labelled a “dirty chain”.

Where HMRC investigate and find a dirty chain they refuse to repay the amount reclaimed by the ultimate exporter. This is why it is important to understand about the supply chain. Not just your supplier when undertaking due diligence. Many companies are often confused as to why they may suddenly become a subject of interest to HMRC.  In these situations, it maybe that the company has inadvertently become involved in a dirty chain. This is why HMRC will ask how, and when you were introduced to your supplier. What checks you did as part of your due diligence, and how the deal was commercially viable.

Contra-Trading

In order to disguise the existence of a dirty chain, fraudsters have become more sophisticated. They have conducted what HMRC call “contra-trading”. The trader who would have been the exporter, or broker at the end of a dirty chain, with a claim to repayment of input tax, himself imports goods (which may be different kinds of goods) from another Member State. Because this is an import he acquires the goods without having to pay VAT. This is the contra-trade. He sells on the newly acquired goods, charging VAT but this output tax is offset against his input tax. Resulting in no payment (or only a small payment) to HMRC. The buyer of the newly acquired goods exports them and reclaims his own input tax from HMRC.

Again there may be intermediaries or buffers, between the contra-trader and the ultimate exporter. The fraudsters’ hope is that if HMRC investigate the chain of transactions culminating in the export, they will find that all VAT has been properly accounted for. This chain of transactions has conveniently been called the “clean chain”. Thus the theory is that an investigation of the clean chain will not find out about the dirty chain. This is with the result that HMRC will pay the reclaim of VAT on the export of the goods, which have progressed through the clean chain.

Many of these risks can be identified through a good level of due diligence but, if the correct questions are not being asked the risks will not be identified.

Altion Law can assist with any concerns on Missing Trader fraud or assist with strengthening your existing due diligence and risk assessment procedures.

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For a confidential free discussion, call us today on 01908 414990,  alternatively emails us at Hello@altion-law.co.uk or complete our Free Enquiry Form and we will call you back.

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