The taxpayer could not resile from his admission of deliberate conduct in a contractual disclosure facility form when appealing against discovery and penalty assessments.  

In March 2015, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) wrote to the appellant to advise that they would be opening a compliance check to review his tax position and requested certain information. The appellant replied to HMRC providing the information requested, including a breakdown of income he received but had not included in a self-assessment return.  

In August 2015, HMRC wrote to the appellant to advise they had reason to suspect that he had committed tax fraud. A copy of code of practice 9 (COP9) was enclosed. HMRC offered the appellant the opportunity to make a full disclosure under the contractual disclosure facility (CDF). In October 2015, the appellant wrote to HMRC enclosing the signed CDF disclosure