Failed sushi restaurant ordered to pay £12,000 in GST

Friday 02 December 2022

Failed sushi and steak restaurant Shinzo have been ordered to pay more than £12,000 in unpaid GST.

Shinzo first opened in August 2020 but shut its doors in June 2022, after less than two years of trading.

Since then, Shinzo has been hit with numerous financial judgments.

In July 2022, two separate judgments in the Royal Court ordered Shinzo to pay over £60,000 in unpaid ITIS contributions and nearly £71,000 in unpaid Social Security contributions. Several former employees have also made claims against the St. Aubin eatery.

Pictured: Shinzo now owes over £150, 000 in unpaid income tax, social security contributions, employee claims and GST. 

Last week, the restaurant was summoned to the Petty Debts Court over £12,160.32 of outstanding Goods and Services Tax.

This included £1,405.32 from 2020, £10,207.41 from 2021 and £547.59 from 2022.

Shinzo, which did not appear in court, was ordered to pay the outstanding GST sums, as well as covering the cost of the action against the business.

The Petty Debts Court, presided by David Le Cornu, also authorised the Government's Treasury to seize Shinzo's property as part of the repayment, provided the sale of any seized items takes place with the approval of the Court.

Pictured: The Petty Debts Court last Wednesday ordered Shinzo to pay £12,160.32 of outstanding GST.

Owners Gavin and Lisa Roberts have previously cited the pandemic and the lack of financial support as reasons for the unexpected closure of Shinzo.

They previously claimed that the Government owes them £85,000 in unpaid Covid Support with Gavin Robert stating that: “I don’t think that the restaurant concept hasn’t worked - I put the closure down to the fact that the Government owe us so much money.”

However, the Government has strongly denied this and in May the Director General of Customer and Local Services Ian Burns, whose department was responsible for administering covid funding, said Shinzo received almost £230,000 via the Co-funded Payroll Scheme.