Sikander Ali v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs

Facts

Mr Sikander Ali carried on the business of selling takeaway food from shop premises at Milkstone Road, Rochdale, under the style of "King Balti". In July 2002 Mrs Carey and another officer of the Commissioners visited the premises; Mr Ali did not identify himself, and it was Mr Shazad Khan, who dealt with the business side because Mr Ali had a poor command of English, who confirmed by telephone that Mr Ali owned the business. Minimal records were produced: weekly takings notes on lined paper, no till rolls and few purchase invoices, from which no audit trail could be established. Mr Ali was invited to self-invigilate his takings, but the sheets were incompletely and inaccurately kept: an unannounced visit at 1.15am on 1 February 2003 found £300 in the till against recorded sales of £183.55, and no sales at all were recorded between 4pm and 5pm or after midnight. Told he appeared to be trading above the registration limit, Mr Ali completed and signed a Form VAT 1 stating expected turnover of between £60,000 and £70,000, and was registered from 1 March 2003. He then rendered nil returns for periods 08/03, 11/03 and 02/04. The Commissioners assessed him to £5,963 of VAT for the period 1 June 2003 to 29 February 2004, and he appealed.