The taxpayer’s appeal against discovery assessments was successful, as HMRC failed to demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that the discovery conditions were satisfied for the assessments to have been validly made.
Summary
The taxpayer’s appeal against discovery assessments was successful, as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) failed to demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that the discovery conditions (in TMA 1970, s 29(4), (5)) were satisfied for the assessments to have been validly made.
Background
The appellant, a self-employed financial trader, heard of a tax avoidance scheme from a work colleague in September 2008. The scheme was operated by a firm of tax consultants (MTC), who had notified the scheme to HMRC under the disclosure of tax avoidance scheme (DOTAS) provisions in September 2008 on form AAG1.
During
