A Maidenhead business is amongst those ‘named and shamed’ on the latest government list of deliberate defaulters following a mammoth £4 million in unpaid taxes. 

The list, which was published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), details people and businesses who have received financial penalties for either deliberately failing to comply with tax obligations or deliberately filing errors in tax returns.  

HMRC’s Publishing Details of Deliberate Defaulters (PDDD) routinely releases the information of those who made at least one deliberate default on more than £25,000 publicly, following an investigation. Details are only published once the penalties are final. 

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Erica Claire Stanford, who ran a property rental and crypto asset company in Maidenhead, was formally trading from Meadow Cottage on Hockett Lane in Cookham and was added to the government’s list on June 15 this year. 

The company failed to pay an eye-watering £4,040,378 in taxes during the period of April 5, 2015, and April 6, 2020 – with the business owner also being hit with penalties charged for the default reaching a staggering £2,828,264.60. 

Other notable Berkshire businesses that were named on the June 15 list includes one in Slough and another in Bracknell.  

Kingdom Protection Management Ltd, a private security company that went into liquidation in 2020 after no accounts were filed, traded from Churchill House on 1 London Road in Slough before moving to a new address in Kent. 

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The business has overdue and unpaid taxes in excess of a quarter of a million pounds – £264,237.54 – between April 6, 2018, and April 5, 2020. It has also incurred charges of £161,845.48 for the lack of payment. 

Sumhas Cars Ltd, a used car dealership in Bracknell that went into liquidation in 2019 after it too didn’t file the company accounts, was formally trading from 3 Ashbourne in Great Hollands.  

The company failed to pay £42,353.81 in taxes during the period of June 1, 2016, and May 31, 2018. The total amount of penalties charged for the default was £28,000.

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This list is updated every three months with the information deleted after one year. 

The government department says publishing the names is “about influencing behaviour by encouraging defaulters to engage with HMRC.”  

Prior to updating and releasing the list, HMRC gives each defaulter an opportunity to present reasons why their details should not be published.