A SCHOOL uniform business with a shop in St Helens town centre has been named and shamed on the government's list of tax defaulters.

Updated around every three months, HM Revenue & Customs publish details of "deliberate tax defaulters" who have been caught not paying their fair share of tax.

Details are published when a person or business is judged to have made at least one deliberate default on more than £25,000 in tax, which could mean deliberately failing to comply with tax obligations or making deliberate errors in their tax returns. 

The list provides information on the amount of tax defaulted during a specific period, and the total amount of penalties paid back to the taxpayer.

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Jaymax named and shamed

On the HMRC's most recent list of tax defaulters, published on March 23, the Jaymax Uniform business has been named as a business that failed to pay its appropriate amount of tax.

Located on Church Street in St Helens town centre, with a main base on Gas Street in Leigh, Jaymax has been trading for more than 20 years.

A well-known and trusted school uniform provider over the years, Jaymax is reported to have defaulted on £81,121.77 between April 2016 and September 2019.

Owner of the uniform shop, Anwar Ghani, blamed the defaults on his previous accountant as the business has been forced to pay £34,071.12 in penalties.

Accountant at fault, say owners

Mr Ghani said: "I am a layperson and fully relied on my previous accountants to deal with my company's account matters.

"My previous accountant missed a number of deadlines for filing VAT which escalated matters.

"However I have resolved this matter with HMRC and payments with penalties will be settled over a period of time."

While the HMRC name and shame those who default on more than £25,000 in tax, the government body emphasise that the published person may have changed their behaviour or the business could be under new management.

The information on the HMRC website is then wiped after a year.