Warwick brothers jailed in £1m film tax fraud plot

Two brothers have been jailed after trying to steal £1m in a film tax scam.

Craig Rees, 50, and Carl Rees, 52, from Warwickshire, had submitted inflated or “entirely fabricated” tax relief claims to HMRC, the authority said.

The pair set up film production companies to forge documents for three films – one of which was fake, while the other two were transferred to the US.

The brothers, both of Shakespeare Street, Warwick, were jailed for seven years at a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.

They were convicted of two counts of conspiracy to defraud public revenues.

To qualify for Film Tax Relief (FTR), at least 25% of production costs must relate to activity in the UK at the time of making their claims between 2011 and 2015.

HMRC said it attempted to steal a total of £542,840 in FTR and £484,933 in VAT repayment claims over four years from October 2011.

They are believed to have received more than £367,000 in payments.

HMRC said Craig Rees was sentenced in his absence after fleeing in January, and his brother told the court he was in Ukraine.

She appealed to anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward.

Mark Robinson, operations lead at HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Film tax relief exists to help real and honest film companies make great British films, but these brothers thought they could exploit the system for personal gain.”