Mustafa Barak t/a Moulin Rouge Fish and Chips v The Commissioners for HMRC

Facts

The appellant, Mustafa Barak, trades as a sole trader running Moulin Rouge Fish and Chips, a business providing both takeaway and eat-in meals. In August 2020 he registered for and operated the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme, the government scheme created to encourage people to eat out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays during that month to assist restaurants adversely affected by Covid. He made four claims under the scheme, covering 10–12, 17–19, 24–26 and 31 August 2020, in respect of 2,170 diners and totalling £19,500. HMRC paid the claims, but in January 2021 opened a compliance check. Correspondence followed over many months in which HMRC asked for till rolls, receipts, ledger entries and bank statements, and issued an information notice under Schedule 36 Finance Act 2008. The appellant supplied Z Reports and bank statements but declined to provide receipts, saying it would take days or weeks to copy them, and did not take up HMRC's offer to review ten sample receipts per day. On 10 December 2021 HMRC issued an assessment recouping the whole £19,500; it was reissued on 18 March 2022 because it had referred to the wrong tax year. A review conclusion letter of 2 February 2023 upheld the assessment, and the appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal. Throughout, he had been in Turkey during August 2020, the business being run by his staff.