HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opened enquiries into the appellant’s tax returns for 2008/09 to 2012/13 inclusive. HMRC subsequently issued two information notices (under FA 2008, Sch 36). The appellant applied to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT), asking it to issue a direction that HMRC close all its enquiries, and also appealed against the information notices.
The FTT considered, in relation to each item in the information notices, whether they were ‘statutory records’ against which no appeal was possible (FA 2008, Sch 36, para 29(2)); whether the appellant had complied with the requirements; and if not, whether information or documents which were not statutory records were ‘reasonably required’ for the purposes of checking the appellant's tax position.
The FTT considered that the weight of case law authority was that the burden of proof in relation to the ‘reasonably required’ test in
