Darren Upton goes down for 6 years

[Bagpuss]

No call, but I was told previously that police were not reviewing all files and it was up to the client to establish if it had happened or not, I was questioning whether this had changed ? I rang HMRC a number of times to check things and was told all was ok but this was the same response others got who then found out they were not ok, considering the last time I rang my CT office and there person there couldnt even read the number out correctly and spent most of her time huffing and puffing at me I have little faith in them, or HMRC generally.

The police had enough to get the conviction, there may be others that were affected that didn't know/the police didn't know. First I found out was via this website, the police did not know I was a victim until the point I contacted them.I'm sure the HMRC will be poking into Upton's affairs more closely now. They may start to inspect clients at some point. My local tax inspector said "they may investigate you, but I don't think they would be that cruel after what has happened".

I think the whole process of delegating authority and appointing an agent for dealings with HMRC needs to be reviewed.

With the increase of electronic submissions and dealing with everything online it's going to be increasingly easy for rogue agents to commit fraud in the way Darren has.

The current systems don't seem fit for purpose when it comes to an agent getting approval for account and corporation tax submissions. A lot of accountants I've had dealings with tend to do it all year end submissions electronically. However, when you are happy with the figures you have to print out a copy of the relevant pages, sign them and send them back to accountant by post. The accountant then submits it all electonically, keeping the signed pages for audit purposes. It's an electronic process, but the most important step - approval - is done manually.

What we need is an approval system on the HMRC portal so that accountants can prepare all the submissions, which is what we pay them for, but they don't get submitted to HMRC until a Director reviews and clicks the submit button.

It's worrying the amount of power that we are virtually compelled to delegate to accountants. I know 99% of accountants wouldn't dream of playing the tricks that Darren has, but a process which requires all electronic submissions to be approved online by a Director before being committed would protect the accountants as much as it would the Director.

As my inspector of taxes said "Mr Upton has found a loophole in the new online system".

[philip@wellwoodhoyle]

It's worrying the amount of power that we are virtually compelled to delegate to accountants. I know 99% of accountants wouldn't dream of playing the tricks that Darren has, but a process which requires all electronic submissions to be approved online by a Director before being committed would protect the accountants as much as it would the Director.

The amount of "delegation" to the accountant is very much down to the client. Far too many clients hand everything over and leave it to the agent, i.e. using the accountant's office address for reg office, VAT returns, PAYE correspondence, etc. Some clients even appoint their accountant as a director or company secretary which is even worse. I've also known of clients having their accountant as a cheque signatory or giving the accountant some blank signed cheques. A lot of this is down to client laziness and trying to "abdicate" responsibility rather than delegation. At the end of the day, the client can, and probably should, use their own home/office address for correspondence from Co House and HMRC. If those clients who have suffered fraud at the hands of Darren Upton had not used his address as their registered office, they'd have got corporation tax demands back showing "nil" tax instead of the right amount, and would have received statements etc showing the position and would have noticed far sooner that things weren't right. There's absolutely NO NEED for you to use your accountant's address as registered office nor for HMRC purposes. Clients can also register and gain exactly the same online access at HMRC and Co House as their agents, so they can keep an eye on things. Whatever regulation is introduced, fraudsters will always find a way so it's down to the client to protect themselves and keep an eye on what is happening and not to rely on agents. None of our clients use our office address as their registered office, nor are we the correspondence address for PAYE nor VAT returns for any of them. Clients have to take responsibility for their own affairs and not just hand it all over to a third party.

[LostInSpace]

Darren had actually been expelled from his professional body, ACCA, a year or two before the fraud because he hadn't complied with their practicing certificate regulations.

My understanding was that some of the fraud occurred at least a couple of months before the last of his professional body subscriptions expired, and that he did have PID at the time. However this is immaterial because both those routes have washed their hands of the whole affair.

[Bagpuss]

If those clients who have suffered fraud at the hands of Darren Upton had not used his address as their registered office, they'd have got corporation tax demands back showing "nil" tax instead of the right amount, and would have received statements etc showing the position and would have noticed far sooner that things weren't right.

I didn't use his address and I did get some correspondence from them, but it didn't really highlight what was happening in the statements and notification of refund, it looked like they had cocked up, and when contacting Darren he would say they had and he would sort it and it was teething problems with the online system. Many clients had been with Darren for years with no problems, they (and I) trusted him so when slightly odd things happened it wasn't likely going to be skulduggery or at least that's what I thought.

When I found out about the FSA stuff (I was quite late to that and my accounts were due), I sought (and received) assurances from him that it wouldn't affect the accountancy business, I couldn't see how it could impact on me, as I never sent him any money, how wrong I was!

[Churchill]

Deludedaussie says it's all his fault. ******* convict.

[BrilloPad]

Well his gf must be happy at him going down for 6 years. Mrs BP would like 6 seconds - 6 years would be luxury for her.

IGMC.

[Bagpuss]

I paid a lot of money for this mistress and I want a refund

Darren Upton, Married Accountant, Jailed For Stealing £500,000 To Lavish On Mistress Victoria Fraenzel

[SueEllen]

I didn't use his address and I did get some correspondence from them, but it didn't really highlight what was happening in the statements and notification of refund, it looked like they had cocked up, and when contacting Darren he would say they had and he would sort it and it was teething problems with the online system. Many clients had been with Darren for years with no problems, they (and I) trusted him so when slightly odd things happened it wasn't likely going to be skulduggery or at least that's what I thought.

The fact that he ripped of a client who invited Darren Upton to his wedding shows what kind of person Darren Upton is.

People who steal from others like that rely on their position of trust.

He isn't the first accountant to rip of his clients and won't be the last even if proper legal regulation is put in place. After all doctors can still harm their patients and they are properly regulated.

[Lovage]

Talking from my own experience I was a client and trusted what my accountant was telling me when I got letters. Telling me that the HMRC were a bunch of muppets seemed believable. I had just gone through a number of HMRC investigations that went on for two years (including IR35 and Personal Tax investigations. All the HMRC attention on my company probably saved me.

I considered Darren a mate and I got in contact with him a number of years ago following recommendations from this site. (No I'm not the friend from the Wedding).

When the FSA went after him I had my own HMRC issues so gave him the benefit of the doubt. I even have him on FaceBook and LinkedIn (still) I did get concerned of the flash cars that were being added on facebook though. But like Bagpuss I couldn't see an issue as I wrote cheques and BAC payments myself to HMRC.

Just feel sorry for the nipper.

[Bagpuss]

The fact that he ripped of a client who invited Darren Upton to his wedding shows what kind of person Darren Upton is.

People who steal from others like that rely on their position of trust.

He isn't the first accountant to rip of his clients and won't be the last even if proper legal regulation is put in place. After all doctors can still harm their patients and they are properly regulated.

Looks like a classic sociopath to me.