Bulbinder Singh Sandhu (51) falsely claimed his firm, Isher Fashions, in Constance Road, North Evington, supplied £4 million worth of ladies' clothes to a dozen small shops in Paris.
Leicester Crown Court was told an investigation revealed the sales – which he claimed were in cash – never took place.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) recruited the help of the French authorities and visited all the shops in Paris over the false invoices.
After submitting false invoices for VAT repayments, which netted him £500,000, Sandhu, pictured, created a bogus handwritten cash book to support the lies.
Sandhu, of Swithland Lane, Rothley, admitted furnishing bogus VAT returns between January 2010 and January 2011. He has since borrowed £500,000 from "friends and business associates" to repay all the money.
