IA028192014 & IA028162014

The Appellants are both nationals of Zimbabwe. They are husband and wife. They have permission to appeal against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Judge Hindson) who on the 27 th March 2014 dismissed their linked appeals against decisions to refuse to vary their leave to remain, and to remove them from the United Kingdom pursuant to s47 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

�the appellant claims now he is taking the necessary steps to correct the position. He says that all of his tax returns have now been submitted to the tax authorities. He has provided documents which have been downloaded from HMRC which are not entirely clear but which do seem to support his contention that he has now submitted tax returns for the years 08/09, 09/10, 10/11, 11/12, and 12/3. However the appellant has not provided me with copies of his actual tax returns.

I therefore have no evidence to support the appellant�s contention that he earned a net income in excess of �50,000 from self-employment prior to making the application in 2010. Given that this is fundamental to the reasons for refusal, I would have expected the appellant would have provided the evidence, if such evidence actually exists

Drawing all the evidence together, I make the following findings. I do not believe the appellant�s story about the mysterious Mr W. I am satisfied that the appellant deliberately did not submit tax returns. This is because he was not in fact earning what he claimed from self-employment. I am therefore satisfied that the application was rightly refused under the provisions of paragraph 322(2) and consequently under paragraph 245CD(b)�

In response the Respondent maintains that the HMRC statement showing no tax paid in respect of the Appellant�s self-employment was sufficient to demonstrate deception on his part.