Not everything in the notice was reasonably required

The taxpayer was employed by a company (ARL). HMRC considered that ARL promoted an avoidance scheme for some of its employees broadly by splitting payments due to the employees into two components – a salary equivalent to the national minimum wage and a commission. It paid PAYE and National Insurance contributions on the first element but not the second.

HMRC issued the taxpayer with a notice under FA 2008 Sch 36 para 1 as it wished to find out whether ARL had paid him sums on which it had not accounted for tax. The taxpayer was not required to submit an income tax return for the year.

The notice asked for information about the employment arrangements such as where he worked the use of intermediaries and what he was told about how the arrangements work.

The taxpayer appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal said the taxpayer’s grounds of...