Kenneth Scott FCA, 69, managing partner of Willis Scott Group (“WSG”), based in Durham, has been jailed for four years after siphoning VAT that he had charged his clients into his own personal funds, and stealing from his own staff.
Although some of the money has been recovered through the sale of residential properties Scott owned, there is still over £1m outstanding. WSG will be sold, and the proceeds will be recovered by HMRC. WSG's has offices in South Shields, Bishop Auckland, Hexham, Sunderland and Benton. Scott is an FCA a member of the ICAEW since 1978.
WSG employed more than 50 staff and Scott stole from their monthly pay packets. He stole £1.7m in total although it may have been more than £2m as HMRC believed the fraud began in2007, but he was only charged for offences from 2014.
Scott would deduct the correct NIC's and income tax, so the staff did not know what was going on, and then kept the money for himself. He then spent the haul on luxury £30,000 holidays and purchased an Aston Martin for £73,000. The fraudulent behaviour damaged the tax history of employees and created a gap in their tax and NI payments, which could impact their state pension in due course.
Employees first realised what was going on, when they started to receive letters from HMRC to notify them of the gap in their taxes.
Scott was arrested at his home in April 2021, and admitted to two counts of cheating the public revenue at Newcastle Crown Court on 15 February 2024. Scott was sentenced to four years' imprisonment at Newcastle Crown Court on 4 April 2025. He has also been banned for 10 years from acting as a director.
HMRC said: 'As an accountant Kenneth Scott should have known better than to try and cheat the system. He stole from the taxpayer and damaged the tax records of his employees, which we have been working hard to correct.
'Accountants hold a position of enormous trust, and this sentence should serve as a warning to the minority of corrupt professionals who wrongly believe they can use their knowledge to commit or facilitate tax crime.'
An ICAEW spokesperson said: 'Our disciplinary byelaws preclude us from commenting on whether any matter may or may not be the subject of consideration by our professional conduct department. Where such consideration results in disciplinary action being taken then a public announcement will be made.'
Peter Nichols – BFN Accounts & Tax