No evidence of irregularities

The claimant, a freight-forwarding and warehousing firm, was granted an excise licence in 2002. From that date, part of its business consisted in operating a bonded warehouse.

HMRC believed the company was trading fraudulently and raised assessments against the claimant in 2009. The firm was ordered to be wound up in March 2009, at the behest of the Revenue in respect of its assessments.

Subsequently, the claimant began proceedings against its former directors, the defendants, claiming they were negligent in allowing it to be exposed to the liability to the taxman. The question was whether the directors were liable to the claimant for breaches of their obligations as directors.

The judge said the claimant had not proved that the defendants had acted dishonestly. Therefore, they were not liable to the claimant for breaches of their obligations.

The application was dismissed.

Issue: 4271 / Categories: Tax cases