The appellant, Shaun Harte, went to the First Tier Tribunal to dispute four discovery assessments totalling £560,589.39 covering six years from 5 April 2010 to 2016 and inaccuracy penalties of £336,353.61.

The tax demands were issued by HMRC on 3 July 2018 under section 29 Taxes Management Act.

At the tribunal, Harte accepted that he had not given sufficient attention to his tax affairs and should have done so, but he stated that he was focused on developing and growing the Tasca Tankers Limited’s business where he worked as a self-employed consultant as well as undertaking other ad hoc work.

Harte also admitted there had been some under declaration of income tax in particular related to amounts that were received directly into his bank account from Tasca Tankers ‘which were greater than the amounts declared for income tax purposes’.

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