PN MP David Thake's telecoms firm owes €270,000 in VAT, most of which goes back years

PN MP David Thake’s telecommunications company has a pending VAT bill of €270,000, with the Inland Revenue Department, going back a number of years.

Thake, chairperson and sole shareholder of Vanilla Telecoms Ltd has been in contact with IRD over this bill, according to a report by Times of Malta.

In a statement on social media, Thake confirmed the veracity of this claim but insisted his personal tax position is “normal” and that he personally owes nothing to the tax man.

“With regards to the company Vanilla Telecoms Ltd, I can say that all income has been declared in time and there is no allegation or suspect of tax evasion,” Thake stated. He remarked that police had erroneously filed a court case over ECO tax, but this had been already paid.

Thake admitted that according to tax authorities, €270,440 is due, with €233,515 amounting to pending VAT and the rest being interest and penalties.

According to Thake, €174,790 are immediately due, while the rest had been deferred as part of the COVID measures to help businesses during the pandemic.

“I add that the system of COVID tax deferral was intended to keep businesses afloat and to save jobs. Along with a number of other businesses, we also benefitted from this scheme. I conclude by saying that tax is due, because the company has always been meticulous in its book keeping.”

Labour lambasts PN over ‘clear case of tax evasion’

The Labour Party hit out at the PN and Opposition leader over reports of unpaid tax from PN MP David Thake.

“The leader of the Opposition has another test in front of him after news that an MP of his has over a quarter of a million euro in VAT that needs to be paid to the tax commissioner. This is VAT that was collected from clients and kept in his pockets instead of passing it on to the state as was his responsibility.”

In a statement, the party insisted that the Opposition must take action against Thake to prove credibility on tax evasion.

“In the past days, Bernard Grech spoke about tax evasion. Now he has a clear case of tax evasion in his parliamentary group, if he truly wants to show that he believes in the Facebook posts his team writes for him.”

“Everyone knows that Bernard Grech will continue having credibility problems because he himself consistently evaded tax until he accepted to be placed as leader of the opposition.

The party added that Grech should not accept Thake’s reasoning blindly, having mentioned the COVID tax deferral scheme as partial reason for unpaid tax.

“The figures in the published report show that this is a matter of unpaid VAT on almost €1.5 million in income and over a long span of time. The competent authorities must take this case seriously - no one is above the law, not even Opposition MPs.”