Mohammed Butt and Mahfooz Begum have both lost their appeals against income tax discovery assessments dating back to the 1990s at the Upper Tribunal.

The discovery assessments were opened by the National Crime Agency (NCA) under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) sided with the NCA, upholding the assessments and penalties issued to the appellants.

Butt was facing a £744,121.76 assessment which accumulated between the 1996-97 and 2012-13 tax years, while Begum was appealing against assessments worth £151,463.22 for the 1997-98 to 2011-12 tax years.

The pair were arguing that the FTT was wrong not to find the assessments invalid, saying the NCA failed to prove there was a loss of tax revenue from a specific trade source. The alleged trade was money laundering, however the couple said the income had derived from rental properties.