A financial adviser has been banned and stripped of his permissions by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after failing to declare more than £407,000 of income to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over five years.
Anthony George, the director, owner and sole approved person of 4Life Financial Planning Limited in London, also lied to the FCA in his first compelled interview with the regulator, giving information he knew was wrong.
Along with paying less tax than he should have, George also used the lower income figure to claim working tax credits.
Overall, the FCA believes George submitted false information to HMRC in his self-assessment tax returns during a five-year period for the tax years 2013-2014 to 2017-2018.
It’s findings show George failed to declare more than £407,000 of income during the period.
George appointed two accountancy firms – one to submit his self-assessment tax return from which he hid the cash-in-hand income from a DJ business, hair salon and rental of a spare room.
The second firm was used to prepare his mortgage application and was given the full details of his income which totalled £451,071 in the years 2013-14 to 2015-16 – more than £367,000 higher than the £83,314 he declared to HMRC.
George also completed the Chartered Insurance Institute level four qualification unit R03 entitled personal taxation on 3 February 2016, the FCA noted.
Following its investigation, the FCA withdrew the approval given to perform the senior management functions SMF3 (Executive Director), SMF16 (Compliance Oversight) and SMF17 (Money Laundering Reporting) at 4Life Financial Planning Limited.
“The FCA has prohibited financial adviser Anthony George from performing any regulated activity in the financial services industry on the grounds that he is not a fit and proper person as his conduct demonstrates a lack of honesty and integrity,” the regulator said.
It added: “Mr George deliberately understated his personal income in the self-assessment tax returns which he submitted to HMRC for a period of five consecutive tax years.
“In understating his income, Mr George did not pay the correct amount of income tax and, in addition, he claimed and received working tax credit to which he was not entitled.
“Mr George has provided no credible explanation for the under-declaration of his income to HMRC over this period of time.”