The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has ruled in favour of HMRC and has refused the application from restaurant Kazitula Ltd for an out of time appeal against VAT and corporation tax assessments totalling £317,047.44 and penalty assessments of £212,506.35.

Shafique Uddin was the sole director and majority shareholder of the restaurant Kazitula in St Albans and in 2017 HMRC assessed the company’s VAT and corporation tax returns as it believed that Kazitula was hiding some of its sales.

HRMC notified the restaurant on 10 April 2017 of the tax assessments, however only a few days later on 13 April, Kazitula entered into creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL). In June, HMRC then issued the restaurant penalty assessments due to ‘deliberate inaccuracies’ and notified Uddin that he was personally liable for these penalties.

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