Anton Lica, of Oxford Builders (AL) Ltd, said he was unfairly hit with a £48,000 penalty over claims he failed to pay £75,000 worth of VAT.
The 39-year-old says the dispute is over VAT not charged by his business when he built two new homes in Divinity Road, East Oxford through the Kidlington-based construction firm.
Housebuilders in the UK should charge zero per vent VAT on the construction labour and qualifying materials for brand-new residential homes.
Mr Lica said he has all the documents that prove his innocence and is now going through a High Court battle to clear his business’ name, which he has since had to put into liquidation.
He said legal fees have topped £50,000 alone and described the whole situation as being “unfortunate and painful” to deal with.
The businessman told this newspaper: “All the tax has been paid up to date – corporation tax, VAT, CIS, everything. All suppliers and contractors have been paid.
“There was one small amount, about £600, owed to a large company, but they wrote it off because we’d dealt with them since we started.
“It was a battle, almost an impossible mission to begin with with the VAT officer but I repeat: tax, corporation tax, everything has been paid.
“The dispute was only about one project, at Divinity Road, where we built two new houses on the site.
“HMRC treated it as part of the existing house and demanded VAT. We sent them all the planning permissions to show what we’d done.
“There were delays because my accountant was seriously ill in hospital; I then moved to a bigger firm who brought in specialist tax advisers.
“Even then, it was an almost impossible battle. We went to the High Court.”
He said that “as innocent people, let’s fight this and prove our innocence” and took HMRC to court over the penalty the business was given.
“Our business was small, essentially a one?man band with subcontractors, but this was my life, and it destroyed it,” he said. “It was extremely stressful.
“We were looking at having to spend £50,000 to keep fighting, and you ask yourself, where does it end?”
Government records say tax was not paid between September 2017 to November 2019, March 2020 to November 2020 and March 2023 to May 2023.
Documents allege the business failed to pay £75,627 in tax/duty and in response HMRC issued £48,113.71 worth of penalties to Oxford Builders (AL) Ltd.
In April, the business was put into voluntary liquidation, appointing Jane Hardy and Rosalind Mary Hilton, of Adcroft Hilton, as joint liquidators.
HMRC said it cannot comment on identifiable businesses due to taxpayer confidentiality law.
A spokesman said: “We are committed to tackling those who deliberately default on the tax they owe.
“This is key to the government’s wider plan to strengthen the economy and fund the public services we all rely on.
“Publishing the names of deliberate defaulters and their penalties sends a clear message that those who deliberately don’t pay what they owe will face the consequences.”
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