Revenue & Customs Commissioners v Cotter [2012] EWCA Civ 81, [2012] All ER (D) 83 (Feb)
If the Revenue decided to challenge matters contained in the return in response to the boxes provided, it had to use either the s 9A procedure or seek to make a correction to the return under s 9ZB of the Taxes Management Act 1970, if applicable. That was so even if, under the relevant statutory provisions governing loss relief claims, that claim could not be the subject of relief against liability to tax for the year to which the return related. In that case, it was up to the Revenue, if it wished to achieve the contrary result, to make sure that the form of return did not permit such a claim to be made. Section 9A(4) of the Act made it clear that the Revenue’s inquiry might extend to “anything contained in the return, or required to be contained in the return”.
The material words were “contained in”. Those words could not mean “required to be contained in” because that would make the alternative words redundant, contrary to well-established canons of construction. To
