Former Tax Assoc President Andrew Meeson found guilty & jailed for tax fraud

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Andrew Meeson, former president of the Association of Taxation Technicians, has been sentenced to 8 ½ years for fraudulently claiming back £5 million in tax relief in a pension scam.

Wed, 06 Mar 2013

Andrew Meeson, former president of the Association of Taxation Technicians, has been sentenced to eight and a half years for fraudulently claiming back £5 million in tax relief in a pension scam. Meeson, along with Peter Spencer Bradley, Alison Jayne Bradley and Steven Price, were on trial at Birmingham Crown Court, charged with running the pension scam from 2006 to 2010.

Yesterday both Andrew Meeson and Peter Spencer Bradley were found guilty and jailed for eight and a half years each for tax fraud.

Steven Price, 48, had previously pleaded guilty to obtaining documents by deception, and was given an 18 month prison sentence, suspended for two years and fined £100,000. Yesterday both Price and Alison Jayne Bradley were found not guilty of conspiracy and not guilty of acquiring criminal property from the proceeds of the fraud.

Meeson and Spencer Bradley had invented two large pension schemes with fictitious members and had, over a number of years, reclaimed tax from HMRC on non existent contributions. 

Pension administrators, such as Meeson, claim monthly for tax relief on pension contributions from HMRC, on behalf of pension scheme members. At the moment HMRC does not require very specific details on each scheme or to identify individual member contributions.

Meeson, aged 52, was a prominent high profile accountant. He is a past President of the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) and has acted as an adviser to HMRC on tax evasion.