A Hove man has been banned from being a company director after his restaurant business went bust owing more than £228,000 in tax.
Farshad Nasirpour, 53, of Barrowfield Drive, Hove, also owed more than £9,000 to two suppliers to Piccolo, his Italian restaurant in Ship Street, Brighton.
Mr Nasirpour, whose ban started last week, has been disqualified from being a director for four years, the Insolvency Service said.
It said: “Farshad Nasirpour caused Piccolo Italian Restaurant Limited to trade to the detriment of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).”
The company started trading in July 2012, the Insolvency Service said, and ceased trading in November 2014.
It added: “By the date of liquidation, Piccolo owed HMRC £186,664.45 in respect of VAT (value added tax), having paid a total of £97,800.00, the last payment of which was on (Monday) 31 March 2014.
“At the date of liquidation, Piccolo owed HMRC a total of £41,904.82 in respect of PAYE (pay as you earn), NIC (national insurance contributions), corporation tax and interest.
“Over the period (Monday) 1 April 2013 to liquidation, a total of £895,517.07 in trading income was banked into Piccolo’s bank accounts and £950,068.09 paid out.
“Of this, £98,127.52 was paid to HMRC.
“Over the same period, transfers to (Mr Nasirpour) totalled £46,030.00, cash withdrawals totalled £19,600 and £30,455.05 (net) was paid to another (unidentified) bank account.
“At the date of liquidation, HMRC were owed a total of £228,566.27. Two trade creditors only were owed £9,359.38.”
