Company credit card and loan relationships

The taxpayer K was a director of Primeur Ltd in which he held shares. For many years he used his company credit card personal expenditure which the company paid for. He did not reimburse the company or declare the amounts in his personal tax return and the company did not make any adjustments for the amounts in its accounts. HMRC issued discovery assessments based on deliberate behaviour and imposed penalties. It also issued National Insurance determinations and penalties on the company.

K held shares in another company VDP to which he and other shareholders made unsecured loans. Primeur Ltd also loaned money to VDP secured by a mortgage on property owned by VDP. When VDP sold the property at a loss it repaid the loans to the shareholders but was not left with enough funds to pay part of the loan from Primeur...