The Upper Tribunal agreed with the decision from the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) which dismissed the appeal of corner shop owner Kingsley Douglas and found that HMRC was right to raise assessments for undeclared VAT on his sales.

Douglas ran three corner shops that sold newspapers, tobacco, and other confectionery and following a VAT inspection by HMRC in 2019, HMRC found that VAT had been undeclared for the VAT quarterly period 09/2009 totalling £7,319.17 and the VAT periods 06/2010 to 12/2013 totalling £132,693. HMRC then issued an assessment.

The assessments were made under section 73 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 which states that if HMRC believes that a VAT return is incomplete or incorrect, then it may assess the amount of VAT due from the person ‘to the best of their judgment’ and notify the individual.

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