A self-employed taxpayer’s deduction for wife’s wages of £90 per week was held to be excessive from the evidence available.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opened an enquiry into the appellant’s tax return for 2013/14. Following a review of the appellant’s business records as a self-employed plumbing and heating engineer, HMRC concluded that the deduction claimed for wife’s wages was unreasonable.
The appellant argued that a salary of £90 per week for his wife was not excessive for the duties she carried out “…to maintain the administrative and accounting functions and these duties extend, and are not restricted to, taking telephone enquiries, processing orders and checking part prices”.
HMRC accepted that some work would be involved in writing up the appellant’s ledger with the bank statements, and therefore attributed two hours
