Finance Act 2014

Obtaining information and documents: supplementary

267 Form and manner of providing information

(1) The Commissioners may specify the form and manner in which information required to be provided or documents required to be produced by sections 255 to 264 must be provided or produced if the provision is to be complied with.

(2) The Commissioners may specify that a document must be produced for inspection—

(a) at a place agreed between the person and an officer of Revenue and Customs, or

(b) at such place (which must not be a place used solely as a dwelling) as an officer of Revenue and Customs may reasonably specify.

(3) The production of a document in compliance with a notice under this Part is not to be regarded as breaking any lien claimed on the document.

268 Production of documents: compliance

(1) Where the effect of a notice under section 255, 257 or 262 is to require a person to produce a document, the person may comply with the requirement by producing a copy of the document, subject to any conditions or exceptions that may be prescribed.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply where—

(a) the effect of the notice is to require the person to produce the original document, or

(b) an authorised officer, or an officer of Revenue and Customs with the approval of an authorised officer, subsequently makes a request in writing to the person for the original document.

(3) Where an officer requests a document under subsection (2)(b), the person to whom the request is made must produce the document—

(a) within such period, and

(b) at such time and by such means,

as is reasonably requested by the officer.

269 Exception for certain documents or information

(1) Nothing in this Part requires a person to provide or produce—

(a) information that relates to the conduct of a pending appeal relating to tax or any part of a document containing such information,

(b) journalistic material (as defined in section 13 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984) or information contained in such material, or

(c) personal records (as defined in section 12 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984) or information contained in such records (but see subsection (2)).

(2) A notice under this Part may require a person—

(a) to produce documents, or copies of documents, that are personal records, omitting any information whose inclusion (whether alone or with other information) makes the original documents personal records (“personal information”), and

(b) to provide any information contained in such records that is not personal information.

270 Limitation on duty to produce documents

Nothing in this Part requires a person to produce a document—

(a) which is not in the possession or power of that person, or

(b) if the whole of the document originates more than 6 years before the requirement to produce it would, if it were not for this section, arise.

271 Legal professional privilege

(1) Nothing in this Part requires any person to disclose to HMRC any privileged information.

(2) “Privileged information” means information with respect to which a claim to legal professional privilege by the person who would (ignoring the effect of this section) be required to disclose it, could be maintained in legal proceedings.

(3) In the case of legal proceedings in Scotland, the reference in subsection (2) to legal professional privilege is to be read as a reference to confidentiality of communications.

272 Tax advisers

(1) This section applies where a notice is given under section 258(4) or (5) and the person to whom the notice is given is a tax adviser.

(2) The notice does not require a tax adviser—

(a) to provide information about relevant communications, or

(b) to produce documents which are the tax adviser’s property and consist of relevant communications.

(3) Subsection (2) does not have effect in relation to—

(a) information explaining any information or document which the person to whom the notice is given has, as tax accountant, assisted any person in preparing for, or delivering to, HMRC, or

(b) a document which contains such information.

(4) But subsection (2) is not disapplied by subsection (3) if the information in question has already been provided, or a document containing the information has already been produced, to an officer of Revenue and Customs.

(5) In this section—

• “relevant communications” means communications between the tax adviser and—

  (a)

  a person in relation to whose tax affairs the tax adviser has been appointed, or

  (b)

  any other tax adviser of such a person,

  the purpose of which is the giving or obtaining of advice about any of those tax affairs, and

• “tax adviser” means a person appointed to give advice about the tax affairs of another person (whether appointed directly by that person or by another tax adviser of that person).

273 Confidentiality

(1) No duty of confidentiality or other restriction on disclosure (however imposed) prevents the voluntary disclosure by a relevant client or a relevant intermediary to HMRC of information or documents about—

(a) a monitored promoter, or

(b) relevant proposals or relevant arrangements in relation to which a monitored promoter is a promoter.

(2) “Relevant client” means a person in relation to whom the monitored promoter mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b)—

(a) has made a firm approach in relation to a relevant proposal with a view to making the proposal available for implementation by that person or another person;

(b) has made a relevant proposal available for implementation by that person;

(c) took part in the organisation or management of relevant arrangements entered into by that person.

(3) “Relevant intermediary” means a person who is an intermediary in relation to a relevant proposal in relation to which the monitored promoter mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b) is a promoter.

(4) The relevant proposal or relevant arrangements mentioned in subsection (2) or (3) need not be the relevant proposals or relevant arrangements to which the disclosure relates.