Claimant v Commissioners for Revenue & Customs — 2019

The appellant appealed against HMRC's Notice of Underpayment concerning six workers. The tribunal recorded that the notice assessed total National Minimum Wage arrears of £12,659.28 and a financial penalty of £24,154.22. Although HMRC produced revised calculations during the hearing, the tribunal held that the original notice stood and did not increase the arrears figure.

The tribunal found that the appellant had not kept adequate records sufficient to establish that workers were paid at least the National Minimum Wage. Workers were paid in cash, without receipts or till records, and there were no reliable contemporaneous time records. The tribunal considered that records produced after the investigation began appeared ad hoc and did not provide a more reliable basis than HMRC's calculations.

The tribunal accepted that HMRC had been entitled to draw inferences from the available evidence, including interviews with workers and information provided by the appellant. It found no sufficient basis to treat the worker interview evidence as inherently unreliable, and noted that HMRC had excluded individuals where it considered the evidence insufficient. The appeal was dismissed and the Notice of Underpayment and penalties stood as issued.