A SHOP fitter tried to scam the taxman out of £14,000. 

Daniel Cheesley submitted eight revised income tax returns requesting larger and larger sums in tax relief.

Although the 32-year-old submitted claims that could have paid out more than £14,000, only £4,043 actually ended up being paid into his Barclays bank account.

Sentencing him to nine months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months, Judge Peter Crabtree said: “This is a case where there is a strong argument that only immediate custody can be justified. 

“It goes without saying, particularly at the moment, that the exchequer simply cannot afford without impacting on the vast majority of law abiding [tax payers] losses caused by deliberate, calculated frauds.”

Swindon Crown Court heard Cheesley submitted is first fraudulent return for the 2017/18 tax year on April 8, 2018. 

He claimed he had no income, allowable expenses – essential business expenses against which tax can be claimed back – of £4,00 and had made £4,000 in Construction Industry Scheme contributions. The building sector scheme sees contractors deduct cash from payments to subcontractors and send it to HMRC as advance payments to the subcontractor’s tax and National Insurance contributions.

On the same day he revised his self-assessment form, logging £6,000 in both allowable expenses and CIS contributions of £6,000, which would have given him a tax rebate of £6,000. 

On April 18, 2018, a tax rebate of £4,043 was paid into Cheesley’s Barclays account. 

The following month, on May 7, he submitted another revised tax return logging £6,000 in allowable expenses and CIS contributions of £998,500. 

That was revised again on May 11, with CIS contributions of £50,000. That would have resulted in a tax rebate of £50,000, although the sum was not paid. 

In June 2018, he was jailed for a year for dangerous driving. But within days of being released from prison on licence in September he had submitted another false tax return. He claimed to have allowable expenses of £10,000 and CIS contributions of £12,000. 

The next month he revised this upwards to CIS contributions of £45,000 – then again, on October 25, to £60,000. 

As the net tightened, in January 2019, he logged a final fraudulent tax return for the financial year 2017/18 claiming to have had an income of £24,500, allowable expenses of £10,000 and made £8,000 in CIS contributions. 

Mitigating, Emma Handslip said her client had three children and played an active part in their lives. He had largely remained out of trouble.

Cheesley, of Cricklade Road, Swindon, pleaded guilty to eight counts of revenue fraud.

Judge Peter Crabtree sentenced him to nine months imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He must complete 100 hours of unpaid work, 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a 12-week curfew.