Ulterior motive not proven

The taxpayer was a taxi driver who appealed against a notice issued under FA 2008 Sch 36 para 1 requiring her to provide certain documents.

Her adviser said the request had been made to enforce a business records check because the taxpayer had not cooperated when HMRC proposed the procedure. He claimed the purpose of the check was to identify taxpayers for further investigation - which made the notice unreasonable.

The First-tier Tribunal ruled that the notice was valid. There was no proof the Revenue had an ulterior motive in issuing the document; even if there were it was by no means certain to invalidate a subsequent notice.

The notice that had been issued included the question “What do you do with the monies at the end of the working day?” which the tribunal ruled to be unreasonable. The relevant issue was what the takings...