WJE Limited & Anor. v The Commissioners for HMRC

These appeals are against HMRC’s decisions to assess WJE Limited (“WJE”) for value added tax (“VAT”) and corporation tax (including liabilities under section 455, Corporation Tax Act 2010 (“CTA 2010”)) together with penalties for deliberate and concealed inaccuracies in its VAT and corporation tax returns. In addition, personal liability notices were issued to Kit Ling Chan (“KLC”), a director of WJE, in relation to these penalties.

The amounts HMRC originally considered to be due have been varied (in some cases very significantly) as a result of information obtained by HMRC during the preparation for this hearing. We have attached a table to the end of this decision notice which sets out the various decisions which are the subject of this appeal showing both the original amounts HMRC assessed following review and the amounts HMRC currently consider to be due.

WJE Ltd was incorporated on 5 January 2005 and traded as the ‘Oriental Garden’, running a buffet-style restaurant. WJE notified HMRC that it commenced trading on 2 April 2006. It was initially registered for VAT under VAT registration number 862 8599 68 with an effective date of registration of 1 September 2005. This was the date it intended to start making taxable supplies. The company deregistered for VAT on the basis the business had been transferred as a going concern on 30 September 2015. The company then registered again under VAT registration number 255 3741 01 with effect from 1 December 2016 and de-registered with effect from 2 October 2021.

On 21 August 2019, Officer Samantha Samways (“Officer Samways”) wrote to WJE to say that she would be conducting a compliance check of the company’s VAT returns and to arrange a meeting at the business premises. What transpired at that meeting and the subsequent steps taken to ascertain WJE’s additional VAT and corporation tax liabilities are set out in the evidence of Officer Samways and Officer Eddy.

This resulted in a VAT and corporation tax assessments, together with penalties for inaccuracies in VAT and corporation tax returns and notices of an officer’s liability to pay a company penalty in respect of VAT and corporation tax.

These decisions were the subject of a review and in October 2020, HMRC issued their review conclusion letters in respect of Corporation Tax, VAT, penalties and the personal liability notices which upheld the decisions but varied the amounts.

In June 2021, HMRC issued a closure notice in respect of WJE’s corporation tax accounting period which ended on 31 March 2019.

WJE and KLC commenced appeals to this tribunal against all these decisions.

On 12 January 2022, Mr Feng provided documents that WJE wished to reply upon in the proceedings. These documents related to years 2012 to 2015 and had not been seen previously by Officer Samways or Officer Eddy. These documents showed that WJE traded with Total Asia in the period January 2017 to October 2018. There was no evidence that WJE had traded with Total Asia or its predecessor prior to this period. As a result of this the Officers’ decided that it was reasonable to assume that purchases were suppressed only for the period January 2017 to October 2018 when WJE was shown to have traded with Total Asia. This is what resulted in amendments to the quantum of all decisions.

We received witness statements from three HMRC witnesses, Officer Samways, Officer Henderson and Officer Eddy. All three gave evidence in person, were cross-examined by Mr Feng and answered questions from the tribunal. In view of some of what follows, we wish to state clearly and unequivocally at the outset that we found all three witnesses to be clear, truthful and to be doing their best to help the tribunal.

Samantha Samways (“Officer Samways”), an officer of HMRC in the Taskforce and Specialist Compliance team based in Cardiff, provided a witness statement, gave evidence before us and was cross-examined by Mr Feng.

Officer Samways described the meeting with the Appellants on 17 October 2019. This took place at the business premises (Unit 8 The Red Dragon Centre, Hemingway Road, Atlantic Wharf, CF10 4JY). In attendance were Officer Samways, Officer Henderson, Mr Williams, WJE’s then accountant, KLC and Ms Wendy Chan (WC), a family friend who was there to help translate. Notes were taken by Officer Samways and Officer Henderson.

Officer Samways said that she was able to converse with KLC, she responded to her questions and demonstrated an understanding of the questions asked. WC assisted when needed, but much of the information provided was by KLC directly. Officer Samways said that if she had thought there were any communication issues she would have involved the help of an HMRC approved interpreter.

Officer Samways asked KLC if there were any errors that needed highlighting from the start of the meeting. KLC confirmed till rolls were not available. On 27 September 2019 her car was broken into and records, plus £7,000 in cash stolen. A crime reference was provided. Officer Samways asked whether this affected just the one period to which she confirmed it did not, she did not have any till rolls. The till rolls were sent to Hong Kong where the data was extracted, and the till rolls destroyed. The bookkeeper in Hong Kong then issued a summary of the till data to the accountant to prepare the Corporation Tax and VAT returns. Mr Williams confirmed he did not have sight of prime records to complete the returns. Officer Samways said that she expressed her concerns with this, as prime records were a legal requirement to support the sales figures provided so a full audit trail could be established to ensure the right tax is paid at the right time.

The history of the business was discussed so Officer Samways could understand the evolution of the business. She could see no transfer of going concern from the previous company, her research had shown this to be a long-standing business and therefore Officer Samways was surprised there was no transfer. KLC confirmed she rented the premises out to the two previous companies (L Best Award Ltd and Good Diner 88 Ltd). No evidence has been provided to show the rental of the premises nor do the Corporation Accounts reflect rent being paid. KLC confirmed at the end of the meeting that what she initially told Officer Samways was incorrect, and that she had been in control of the company since 2005 despite the company name changes. She had always remained the person in control. KLC confirmed that from a customer’s perspective, nothing had changed within the business since 2005. The size of the restaurant remained the same. The cuisine, trading name, prices had increased slightly but this was marginal.

Sales were recorded daily on a Softabacus XR till system. The business accepted cash and card. A Z read would be produced nightly which was then checked against the till, any errors being established at the time and resolved. KLC confirmed that the overall responsibility for this fell on her.

KLC confirmed her suppliers were Peter Broughton Ltd (paid via cash or cheque), CL Foods, who KLC confirmed were previously Total Asia Food Ltd (paid for by BACS), Glamorgan Brewing Company Ltd (paid by cash or cheque), ABM Catering Ltd (paid online or by cheque), Sure Crest Ltd (paid by cash), New Hap Sing Trading Ltd (paid by cash), Hunts (paid by cash), Global, Brakemoor Ltd and Tesco. The main delivery days were Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Later in the meeting she confirmed further suppliers to be Abdul Poultry Ltd and Almoor Ltd.

KLC confirmed real time information was completed by Terence Wei (Bookkeeper in Hong Kong) and there were 13 staff, a mixture of part and full time. She confirmed she would normally operate with 3 to 4 staff during a sitting (lunch sitting and evening sitting), but weekends were busier with all staff in.

KLC confirmed business rates, environmental health, rent and trading standards were all sorted by herself and had been since 2005. She was the main point of contact for the business.

The meeting was paused whilst Officer Samways and Officer Henderson reviewed the records provided. HMRC were in receipt of information in respect of WJE’s supplier Total Asia which was an excel spreadsheet detailing date, route number, drop number, customer code, code, invoice numbers, and amounts paid for the period of 03/07/2017 to the 29/01/2018. Officer Samways cross referenced this information with the VAT accounts provided. She identified all invoices relating to the account reference number 1104. All invoices relating to ‘cash’ were not in the records.

When the meeting resumed Officer Samways issued Factsheet 9 ‘Human Rights’ as she believed errors had been found and KLC was given the opportunity to speak to Mr Williams privately. This was declined. Officer Samways asked if there was anything further KLC wished to disclose, she stated there was not. KLC confirmed she was responsible for the recording and reporting of the sales of the business. KLC reconfirmed her suppliers and the date she started using them. She confirmed she had used the same suppliers since 2005, there had been no changes in suppliers. KLC confirmed Total Asia Food Ltd/C L Foods Ltd was her main supplier and accounted for 40- 50% of her total supplies. Officer Samways asked who was responsible for the decision to use these suppliers, which KLC confirmed this to be her. She also confirmed she was responsible for placing the orders and ensuring funds were available for payment. Officer Samways asked whether the business had any accounts with the suppliers, KLC confirmed she did but could not recall the detail of each supplier. She did confirm she would have been responsible for setting these accounts up. Officer Samways asked if more than one account was ever operated with any of the suppliers, KLC confirmed there was not. KLC confirmed that no goods had been taken for personal use or by staff. KLC confirmed no goods have been sold or transferred to any other business.

Officer Samways gave KLC a copy of the excel spreadsheet containing the list of invoices supplied by Total Asia Food Ltd. Mr Williams then requested a private meeting with KLC (accompanied by WC). Mr Williams returned from the meeting and explained he had strongly advised his client that they needed to come clean. He wanted it noted that he acted only for this business since 2016 and he was unaware of the history that had been outlined today. Officer Samways explained to KLC that HMRC had obtained information from the wholesaler Total Asia Food Ltd between 2017 and 2018. This information showed that two accounts were operated, an invoice and cash account. Only the invoices shown on the account were present in the records. WJE had purchased goods to the value of £68,375.68 using both accounts, of which £41,526.57 were present in the records, and £26,849.10 were not present. This equated to 39% of the purchases being undeclared.

Officer Samways confirmed HMRC’s position that WJE Ltd had regularly made additional purchases from Total Asia Food Ltd and had failed to include these in the business records. On returning from her meeting with her accountant and WC, KLC advised she wanted to fully cooperate, and KLC admitted that she had failed to include all purchases in her business records and operated two accounts with Total Asia, an invoice account, and a cash account. Officer Samways asked where the cash invoices were, KLC confirmed she kept them for a few days to check the stock and they these were placed in the bin. Officer Samways advised that the conclusion to be drawn from not including all purchases was that the corresponding sales to the undeclared purchases were also supressed and that was done to avoid additional VAT and Corporation Tax. KLC confirmed she had manipulated the sales figures and had undeclared sales. She confirmed the till held the correct information regarding sales, the till rolls were sent to Hong Kong where cash sales were removed, and new sales figures were then sent to Mr Williams to compile the returns. The till is set up to destroy the record of takings on a nightly basis.

Officer Samways asked what the cash had been used for. KLC confirmed she would pay students additional cash wages as they could only work 20 hours due to their visas. The additional cash had also been used to fund refurbishment work on the restaurant as well as funding KLC’s personal life.

A copy of the notes of the meeting were provided by letter dated 22nd October 2019 to the company and a copy to Mr Williams. They were asked to notify Officer Samways if the notes contained any errors. On the 13th November 2019 an email was received from Mr Feng advising he had been appointed as a new agent for WJE Ltd and enclosed a signed 64/8 authority form.

On the 20th November 2019 Mr Feng confirmed that the note of the meeting was disputed and further information would follow shortly. He requested a copy of the Total Asia data provided to his client and access to the business records. Officer Samways responded the same day.

On the 21st November 2019 Mr Feng raised further questions and requested documentation to be provided. On the 27th November 2019 Officer Samways received a voicemail from Mr Williams, WJE’s previous accountant, asking her to call him. She returned this call on the same day. Mr Williams advised he had received an email from Mr Feng confirming the new Form 64/8 was in place. She asked whether Mr Williams would still be dealing with company accounts to which he responded he would not, he did not get involved with stuff like this and was relieved. As the notes were now disputed, she requested Mr Williams to review a copy of the notes alongside the notes he had taken, and to let her know if there were any discrepancies.

On 28 November 2019 Mr Feng emailed about the telephone call with Mr Williams alleging that data protection rules had been breached. On 5 December a further email was received direct to Officer Samways’ manager. This was dealt with by her manager who confirmed a Form 64/8 was also in place with Mr Williams and therefore no breach had occurred.

A meeting was arranged for 7 January 2020 with Mr Feng. Mr Feng wrote on 10 December 2019 asking further questions and this was the basis for the format of the meeting. In attendance at that meeting were Officer Samways, Officer Eddy and Officer McKay (Officer Samways’ manager). Mr Feng asked why HMRC discussed the position from 2005 involving other companies and questioned whether confidentiality had been broken? Officer Samways confirmed there was no issue with speaking about the other companies as all information discussed was in the public domain and KLC had been a director of all companies involved. It was KLC herself who said she had been in charge since 2005 despite the companies changing. She confirmed she had been the controlling mind behind the company.

Mr Feng noted that Companies House entries for Total Asia Food Ltd show they commenced trade in 2015 not 2005. Officer Samways confirmed that Total Asia had previously traded as Jing Xing Trading Co Ltd with the same directors and the decision was made based on the presumption of continuity with which KLC did not disagree with at the meeting. Mr Feng asked whether the debt in Total Asia’s company accounts (totalling £822,498) could include the cash invoices? As WJE operates on an invoice accounting system this does not affect WJE accounting. Officer Samways did not think it plausible a company would continue to supply goods if these were not being paid for.

Mr Feng requested confirmation as to how the information was obtained for Total Asia Food Ltd and whether this was done lawfully. Officer Samways confirmed it had been. Mr Feng asked whether she know how the buffet had operated since 2016? Officer Samways confirmed she did, and this was documented in the notes. Officer Samways confirmed the notes were taken and produced based on what KLC had told her. She explained the reason for the difference between the information at the start compared to the end was KLC admitting what had happened. Mr Feng raised his concerns with KLC’s language comprehension. Officer Samways confirmed she was satisfied that KLC understood the conversation and that if not WC was present to help. KLC had confirmed she dealt with complaints in the restaurant and was able to converse with her accountant.

Mr Feng concluded by asking Officer Samways what her thoughts were on the case. She advised she needed to gather more information from the other suppliers. She confirmed she was in no doubt of the conversation that took place on 17 October. Mr Feng stated that HMRC officers often use misleading questions and answer on behalf of the trader. Officer Samways requested confirmation whether Mr Feng had authority to raise this allegation on KLC’s behalf and he confirmed he did not. It was highlighted to Mr Feng that his client had said she wished to be honest and engage with finding a resolution and had done so at the meeting, so that any proposals he wished to put forward would be considered and these would be relevant to potential penalty mitigation. The meeting concluded with Mr Feng agreeing to review figures with his client, and Officer Samways saying that she would contact other suppliers, so a best judgement assessment could be raised with mutual agreement. Copies of Factsheets 7a, 9, 13 and 14 were given to Mr Feng and a letter was sent to WJE on 9 January 2020 enclosing the same factsheets in addition to a copy of the meeting notes between Officer Samways and Mr Feng. Mr Feng acknowledged receiving the notes on 14 January 2020.

On 11 February 2020 a request for third party information notice was made to the following suppliers: Sure Crest Ltd, New Hap Shing Ltd, Hunts Food Ltd, Global Foods Ltd, Glamorgan Brewing Company Ltd, Blakemoor Ltd, ABM Catering Ltd, Alnoor Ltd and Abduls Poultry Ltd.

The case was paused due to Covid 19 on 17 April 2020 and an email was sent to Mr Feng advising this. Mr Feng confirmed he had temporarily ceased working also. Up until this time Officer Samways had received a response from the following suppliers – ABM Catering, Peter Broughton, and Glamorgan Brewery. On review of the records they provided it was found that they matched what had been declared in WJE’s records. Due to the pandemic, it was agreed to be inappropriate to keep chasing other suppliers and that loss of tax would be calculated on the basis of suppression of purchases from one supplier. On 11 March 2020 Mr Feng raised further questions regarding the Total Asia spreadsheet. These were addressed in the decision letter to WJE dated 29th May 2020

KLC had been a director of all companies trading from the business premises since 2005 (although it is noted she resigned from L Best Award Ltd). No evidence could be provided to show that the other companies traded independently. KLC told Officer Samways she had been the director and controlling mind since the start, which was further confirmed by rent, environmental health, trading standards and business rates all falling under her responsibility since 2005. Based on what KLC told Officer Samways and the lack of any explanation as to whether/how this had changed, combined with no production of any evidence (solicitors’ letters/ payments from the other companies/change of lease etc), led Officer Samways to the conclusion that this has always been KLC’s business.

As L Best Award Ltd and Good Diner 88 Ltd are now dissolved companies HMRC decided that it would not be cost effective to reinstate these companies and therefore would not raise tax assessments for the periods they traded which was 1 October 2015 – 30 November 2016.

At the original meeting, KLC had confirmed the business trade remained consistent and therefore no reasons were given for any significant increase or decrease in yearly turnover. On review of the turnover figures submitted annually, trade between 2007 – 2009 was consistent (2007 is the first full comparative year even though the business incorporated in 2005), averaging £934,865. Between 2009 – 2012 there was a decline in turnover. From 2012 to present day the average trade is £645,579. Officer Samways therefore believed it to be fair and reasonable to conclude the sales suppression happened from 2012, and therefore the uplifted sales figures were applied from 2012 and not 2005 in order to be fair and reasonable.

The third-party data obtained from Total Asia detailed delivery routes and drop numbers that related to WJE’s business address. The route number is 14, and the drop number is 14, these are the same for both the goods delivered from the invoice account purchases and the additional purchases paid for in cash. The code 1104 is WJE’s customer number for the invoice account held with Total Asia. All invoices do however carry an invoice number which can be traced, and Officer Samways invited KLC to obtain these invoices herself. The way the deliveries are linked is through the route and drop number, which is specific to WJE only. Both orders would be sent on the same day (delivered on the same date as the date on the invoice and cash purchases were dated the same day) throughout the period the information covered, from 1 July 2017 to 31 January 2018.

Officer Samways said KLC had confirmed this is what happened at the meeting and she had not provided her with any credible explanation as to why what she told her in that meeting has since changed. No explanation was given as to why Officer Samways would hold the information recorded in her notes had this not come direct from KLC. Officer Samways’s notes are supported by Officer Henderson in addition to the comments made by Mr Williams, KLC’s own accountant at the time.

KLC later disagreed that the till rolls are destroyed in her amended notes provided on 10 December 2019. To date, till rolls have not been provided. KLC has confirmed that Terrance Wei returns the purchase invoices back to her. These were provided and therefore Officer Samways would expect the till rolls would be returned also. However KLC has been unable to produce these records. Officer Samways concluded that it is probable that these have been destroyed, which raises concerns whether other records could be produced.

Officer Samways said that WJE’s declared gross profit rate (“GPR”) for the periods 09/17 and 12/17 was 66.29%, which is within the average range HMRC would expect for a restaurant business. When the undeclared purchases for the periods are taken into consideration, the GPR drops to 46.29%, which falls well below the trade average, supporting her view that sales would have resulted from the additional purchases.

The way additional purchases and sales were calculated is explained by Officer Eddy (see below).

Having reviewed the resulting turnover figures against the turnover at the start of the business Officer Samways noted that this figure is still significantly lower than the turnover first declared when the business first started, and therefore a fair and reasonable reflection of trade.

Officer Samways said that she had considered whether there were any other explanations as to where the additional purchases may have been used. However, as KLC has confirmed there was no personal use nor stock transferred, Officer Samways concluded the purchases were used for the business.

On 8 June 2020 Mr Williams responded to Officer Samways and confirmed his own notes were less detailed than the ones provided. He confirmed the notes were in keeping with her recollections of the meeting and that his own notes confirmed the till rolls were destroyed.

On 11 May 2021 the invoices were received from Total Asia and Officer Samways inputted these into an excel spreadsheet. All invoice numbers, dates and amounts matched the information she had originally been provided on the summary sheet in Excel she had used to compare against the business records. She reviewed every invoice and, to gain a better understanding of the contents of the invoices, she took key items she would expect to see being purchased on a regular basis in a Chinese restaurant. She highlighted the invoices declared in the business records and identified the cash invoices missing from the records. By doing this exercise she was satisfied that the purchases made on the cash invoices would be required for the business to operate.

We have set out Officer Samways’s evidence (primarily in her witness statement, but expanded before us). We should note some points put to her by Mr Feng in cross-examination and her response to those points.

Mr Feng noted the third party notices Officer Samways had served on Total Asia seeking additional information. He criticised her for having failed to notify WJE, as required by paragraph 4 of Schedule 36. Her view was that the invoices sought were part of WJE’s statutory records, so there was no need to do this. He asked Officer Samways whether this information request indicated that she doubted the Excel spreadsheet information her enquiry was originally based on. Officer Samways said no, she was collecting information for the tribunal. The Excel spreadsheet had been verified by KLC and that was a good enough starting point.

Mr Feng asked Officer Samways whether she had considered whether the “cash invoices” met the requirements for a VAT invoice. Officer Samways said she had not. He also asked whether Officer Samways had considered the fact that unit prices for cash sales were different from unit prices for declared sales. Officer Samways said that there could be lots of reasons why unit prices for similar goods delivered at the same time might be different. Food could be nearing its use-by date and that would clearly impact on price or value. She had raised her assessments on the total amount WJE had paid and had not concerned herself with unit prices.

Mr Feng put it to Officer Samways that she had cash invoices and material on Excel for the period to 29 January 2018, but otherwise she had guessed the amounts. Officer Samways said that she and Officer Eddy (see below) had used the evidence and numbers they had. Officer Eddy had calculated revised turnover on the basis of the information they had from Total Asia and KLC’s confirmation. Mr Feng suggested that the original much larger assessment (now reduced) suggests Officer Samways just came up with a bigger number and left WJE to appeal. Officer Samways rejected this. She reiterated the process she had gone through and said the process was evidence based. The reductions had followed because the new (January 2022) evidence suggested no trading between Total Asia and WJE.

We note, in the light of what is about to follow, that, whilst Mr Feng asked Officer Samways a number of questions about the detail of her evidence, at no point did he suggest to her that the evidence in her witness statement or to the tribunal about what took place on 17 October 2019 was incorrect.

Andrew Henderson (“Officer Henderson”) is an officer of HMRC in the Individual & Small Business Compliance Team based in Cardiff. He has worked for HMRC for 5 and a half years.

Officer Henderson gave evidence in relation to the meeting at WJE’s premises on 17 October 2019. His sole was primarily as notetaker. His evidence corroborated that of Officer Samways.

Mr Feng challenged Officer Henderson and suggested that his notes of the meeting were fabricated. The Tribunal interjected to warn Mr Feng that he could not suggest dishonest behaviour on the part of HMRC officials without clear prior notice. Officer Henderson nevertheless responded to Mr Feng’s challenge and confirmed that his notes (both in manuscript and as typed-up) were correct.

Russell Eddy (“Officer Eddy”) is a Senior Officer of HMRC. He has worked for HMRC for 19 years with 8 years’ compliance experience in Specialist Investigations and Individual & Small Business Compliance. At the time of these decisions he worked as a Compliance Caseworker involved in investigating businesses and individuals suspected of under-declaring taxable profits (evasion) or claiming fraudulent repayments. He provided a witness statement and gave evidence of his methodology for calculating WJE’s corporation tax liabilities and penalties.

Taking the accounting period ending in March 2019 as an example, his methodology was as follows:

To calculate revised business purchases, he established the percentage of the declared total purchases that related to Total Asia from the VAT accounts that had been provided. For the periods ending 31 March 2018 and 31 March 2019, purchases from Total Asia (and its successor) accounted for 42.17% of the total purchases. He applied the rate of suppression (39.26%) to the Total Asia purchases as follows:

In order to calculate the additional sales that arose from the undeclared purchases, he used the GPR from the company accounts prepared for the period in question (67.79%) as follows:

He accepted this figure was inclusive of VAT and adjusted it, as follows, to calculate revised total sales:

Next, he considered how to calculate the revised taxable profit for the period. KLC had admitted to paying additional wages and repairs. He decided it was fair to increase the deductions to represent the same percentage of the revised business sales as they did the declared sales. The deduction in the company accounts for wages was 17.73% of the declared turnover and the repairs was 2.19%. The deductions were recalculated as follows:

The adjustments described resulted in the following increase to declared profits:

KLC had admitted during the interview that she had been in control of the company since 2005 and had purchased goods from Total Asia, its successors and predecessors for a number of years. The size and nature of the business had not changed during this period and prices had only increased to cover inflation. Officer Samways and Officer Eddy believed that a large drop in turnover in the year ending 2012 indicated the suppression had commenced during that period as the declarations prior to 2012 were consistent with their findings for 2019. He believed it was reasonable to conclude that the inaccuracies had occurred in the previous accounting periods under a presumption of continuity

Officer Eddy then considered what had happened to the additional profits. The increased profits were not visible in WJE’s assets. No evidence was provided to suggest they were paid as a dividend or salary and KLC admitted to gaining personally from the under declarations. He conducted reviews of KLC’s personal tax returns which indicated substantial financial commitments, a property rental portfolio and significant investments in shares exceeding the returned incomed. Officer Eddy concluded that the amounts were withdrawn from the company as loans resulting in an overdrawn director’s loan account (“DLA”) There was no evidence the loans had been repaid to WJE, so they were subject to a section 455 Corporation Tax Act 2010 charge for loans to participators in close companies. There was no mention of a DLA in any of the financial accounts for the periods in question so he concluded that the additional profits identified equated to the increase in the amounts overdrawn at the end of each period.

Turning to Officer Eddy’s cross-examination by Mr Feng, Officer Eddy was challenged about the level of questions/enquiries he raised. Officer Eddy said that he had not felt it necessary to ask questions of WJE himself as he had all the information he needed from Officer Samways. Related to this, Mr Feng challenged Officer Eddy on the information he used for the closure notice. The enquiry, discovery and evidence focused on 2018 but the closure notice was for 2019. It was based on a principle of continuity and flawed. Officer Eddy said that he took the earlier information as his starting point, coupled with KLC’s admission that she had suppressed figures over a period and the accounts were consequently unreliable. He had used the information available to him.

Mr Feng put it to Officer Eddy that the closure notice was based on assumption rather than enquiry, a suggestion Officer Eddy rejected.

Similarly, Mr Feng challenged the discovery assessments. He suggested Officer Eddy hadn’t requested anything and just used the VAT figures. Officer Eddy said his corporation tax calculations had been based on the evidence HMRC had gathered and KLC’s confession. He had discussed with colleagues how best to calculate numbers based on evidence held.

The issues between the parties go fundamentally to the question whether there has been any under-declaration of turnover, with the VAT and corporation tax consequences which flow from that.

The VAT assessments must be made to “best judgment” (see section and here Mr Feng says that this is an example of a “rare case” where Officer Samways did not fairly consider all material in her possession. He points to cash invoice unit prices being different from the unit prices in the declared invoices. He says this is “prima facie evidence … that WJE Ltd did not conceal from the company’s business records” and that “Ms Chan had not behaved deliberately” and it is a factor that is missing from Officer Samways’s analysis. He goes on to say that Officer Samways only considered one aspect of all the material in her possession, this was unfair, was wholly unreasonable, was a guess and was arbitrary. She should have considered the discrepancies he identified, even though they may have been discovered after her decision, and not doing so means that her decision is an arbitrary one because she did not consider all the material before her. He says that Officer Samways “guessed because she drew inferences from the amounts”.

In his submission all the VAT and corporation tax assessments stand or fall on the same foundation as VAT best judgment. Essentially, his case is that Officer Samways’s decision about whether WJE under-declared its purchases cannot stand and, because they all stand on its shoulders, all the other decisions (corporation tax, including section 455 CTA 2010, and penalties) fall with it. In relation to corporation tax he also argued that the principle of continuity was being applied in appropriately. Mr Feng did not raise any points of detail on the computation of the amounts of VAT or corporation tax assessed. As we have indicated, his argument was that HMRC’s approach to their finding of suppressed purchases was so flawed that it was not a finding to the best of Officer Samways’s judgment and cannot stand as the basis for a VAT or corporation tax assessment.

Mr Feng did not raise any points as to the statutory conditions for raising a corporation tax assessment. Nor, in his skeleton argument, did he raise any issues around HMRC’s initial interview with KLC and the disclosures she made.

HMRC’s submissions focus on each amount they assess (VAT, corporation tax and penalties). Their analysis of the factual narrative is as follows:

In HMRC’s view Officer Samways’s calculation of the additional VAT due met the criteria for “best judgment”.

Similarly, HMRC say they were right to correct WJE’s corporation tax return for APE 31 March 2019 because WJE had suppressed purchases in order to under-declare sales and profit. The same applies to the discovery assessments. HMRC submit that in this case it is appropriate to apply the presumption of continuity to the uplift in WJE’s profits for the years assessed. The presumption of continuity was made by Officer Eddy, who had a reasonable ground to believe that WJE supressed their cash takings from 1 February 2011. HMRC submit that the start date for the suppression of sales is 1 February 2011. This is based on the decrease in declared turnover declared in WJE’s Corporation Tax returns. HMRC submit that when there is evidence of omissions from one year’s return, they are permitted to infer that these omissions occurred in other years unless the taxpayer can prove otherwise. The authority for this is Jonas v Bamford (H.M. Inspector of Taxes) [1973] STC 519 where Walton J observed (at page 540):

HMRC submit that the evidence obtained throughout the course of their enquiries demonstrates that the suppression of purchases and subsequent suppression of sales is an established pattern that covers the period 3 July 2017 to 29 January 2018. HMRC therefore consider that the presumption of continuity is reasonable in WJE’s case as there has been no evidence provided to demonstrate a change in its situation.

Section 455 CTA 2010 applies to loans/advances made on or after 1 April 2010. If a close company makes a loan or advance which is not repaid by the participator before the end of the accounting period, the amount is treated as if it were an amount chargeable to Corporation Tax. For the purposes of section 455, a close company is treated as making a loan or advance where a participator incurs a debt to the close company. HMRC submit that money has been taken from WJE, however this has not been declared as salary or dividends. Neither WJE nor KLC has provided evidence of how the money has been extracted. HMRC therefore contend that the money has been taken from WJE without proper authority and is a debt which has given rise to a charge under section 455.

As to penalties, HMRC contend that WJE is liable to the penalties as they submitted documents to HMRC which are listed within the table of paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 24 FA 2007. Condition 1 is met as the documents contained an inaccuracy leading to an understatement of a liability to tax, namely the suppression of sales. HMRC submit that the behaviour that led to the inaccuracies is deliberate and concealed in accordance with paragraph 3(1) (c) of Schedule 24 FA 2007. The reasons why HMRC took this view are set out in paragraph [100] below.

HMRC contend that these inaccuracies were deliberate and concealed in nature and attributable KLC, who was a director of WJE. She was a director from 5 January 2005 to 20 November 2016 and then from 10 January 2017 to date. HMRC are aware that Justin Jim was also a director from 5 November 2016 to 2 September 2019. However, KLC advised them during the meeting on 17 October 2019 that he was never part of the business but was a shareholder. KLC confirmed she had overseen and controlled the business from the start and that she was the person in charge. KLC also made the disclosure regarding the inaccuracies. HMRC therefore submit they were correct to charge a penalty in line with paragraph 19 (1), Schedule 24 of FA 2007.