Liability to be VAT registered

The taxpayer was not represented at the tribunal hearing and had delayed proceedings for several years – partly for personal reasons but also because of changing professional adviser. He appealed against VAT assessed for the period between 1 January 2009 and 31 July 2013 as well as a late registration penalty of £8 590.

The business started to trade in 2007 but did not register for VAT because the owner said that turnover was always below the registration limits. However HMRC examined till rolls for two days of trading for 1 and 2 November 2012 which showed total takings of £800. This indicated that the business was trading above the threshold and should be registered. The taxpayer argued that these two days were unusually busy and not representative of general trading patterns.

HMRC instructed the owner to record all sales on his till for a specific...