AC-2025-LON-002199 - [2025] EWHC 2057 (Admin)

In relation to declared income, the financial history of the Respondents appears limited. Ms Zhang was the sole Director and Shareholder of Eternity Intertrade Limited from January 2013, holding one share worth £50,000. This company did not submit any accounts or annual returns and was dissolved in June 2014. Mr Xing was the company secretary of, and held a 30% shareholding in, UK S&S Food Limited from July 2014, a licensed restaurant business that traded at a permanent loss from 2016 to 2018 and was dissolved in December 2019.

Ms Zhang has been the sole director and shareholder of UKFRESHASIANFOOD Limited since October 2018, also a licensed restaurant. Both Respondents have been declared to be employees of this company on PAYE since December 2018. The company’s accounts include ‘Loans from Directors’ of increasing amounts, reaching £194,149 by 31 October 2023.

Mr Xing has never been registered with HMRC for Self-Assessment. Ms Zhang has been registered since 2018, but her self-assessments show total income exceeding £10,000 only once in six years (£10,052.00), incurring no tax liability. The combined PAYE income of the Respondents for the ten-year period 2013/14 to 2022/23 was £151,884.04. Their joint declared income for the 11-year period 2013/14 to 2023/24 was £188,435.04, averaging £17,130.46 per year after tax. This declared income raises questions as to their ability to support their companies through directors’ loans and shareholders’ funds, especially given the £194,149 ‘loaned’ to UKFRESHASIANFOOD Limited.