Bank statements are statutory records

The taxpayer an IT support company claimed payments under the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS).

HMRC was concerned about the claims because on the basis of having been deregistered for VAT in 2014 and not having submitted a corporation tax return since 2016 it appeared not to have traded for some time yet had made furlough claims. HMRC issued information notices requiring details of the company’s business information about employees and copies of bank statements. The company did not comply with the first two categories and submitted redacted bank statements saying these were not statutory records. It appealed against the information notices.

The First-tier Tribunal said that the bank statements were statutory records so there was no appeal against a notice requiring their production. Even if this were not the case the tribunal was satisfied that ‘a complete unredacted run’...