Chandra Bahadur KC v The Commissioners for HMRC

Facts

Mr KC ran a Chinese takeaway from premises at 80 Crwys Road, Cardiff, which had previously been operated by Wok to Box Limited, a company incorporated in November 2015 (originally as Everest Wok Limited) and owned and directed by one of his daughters. Mr KC had leased the premises and worked in the kitchen as an employee of the company, declaring employment income from it in 2017-18. The company was dissolved on 12 November 2019 and Mr KC thereafter carried on the takeaway as a sole trader, declaring self-employment income from a Chinese takeaway in 2020-21 and from a takeaway selling noodles in 2021-22. The company had never been registered for VAT. HMRC obtained sales data from online food-ordering intermediaries including Just Eat, Uber Eats, Hungry House, Deliveroo and Kukd.com covering December 2015 to March 2022, which showed the company's turnover exceeding the registration threshold from September 2017 onwards. Following an ADR process in which certain figures were reduced, HMRC decided to register Mr KC for VAT with effect from 13 November 2019 on the footing that he had taken over the business as a going concern from a taxable person. That decision was notified on 6 June 2024 and upheld on review on 12 September 2024. Mr KC appealed to the First-tier Tribunal under section 83(1)(a) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994.