Finance Act 1989

Miscellaneous U.K.

[F1 181 Broadcasting: additional payments by programme contractors. U.K.

(1) M1 The Broadcasting Act 1981 shall have effect withrespect to additional payments payable by programme contractors under that Actsubject to the amendments made by Part I, and with the substitution, forSchedule 4 to that Act, of the provisions contained in Part II, of Schedule16 to this Act.

(2) The transitional provisions made by Part III of that Schedule shall haveeffect.

(3) This section shall come into force on 1st January 1990.]

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 181, Sch. 16 repealed (prosp. as mentioned in S.I. 1990/2347, art. 3(3)) by Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42, SIF 96), ss. 127-129, 134, 203(3), 204(2), Schs. 9-12, Sch. 21

Marginal Citations

M1 1981 c. 68.

182 Disclosure of information. U.K.

(1) A person who discloses any information which he holds or has held in the exercise of tax functions is guilty of an offence if it is information aboutany matter relevant, for the purposes of those functions, to tax or duty inthe case of any identifiable person.

(2) In this section “tax functions” means functions relatingto tax or duty—

(a) of the Commissioners, the Board and their officers,

(b) of any person carrying out the administrative work of any tribunalmentioned in subsection (3) belowm, and

(c) of any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, servicesto any person mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above.

(3) The tribunals referred to in subsection (2)(b) above are—

(a) the General Commissioners and the Special Commissioners,

(b) any value added tax tribunal,

(c) any referee or board of referees appointed for the purposes of section80(3) of the M2 Taxes Management Act 1970 or under section26(7) of the M3 Capital Allowances Act 1968, and

(d) any tribunal established under section 463 of the Taxes Act 1970 orsection 706 of the Taxes Act 1988.

(4) A person who discloses any information which—

(a) he holds or has held in the exercise of functions—

(i) of the Comptroller Auditor General and any member of the staff of theNational Audit Office, or

(ii) of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and his officers,

(b) is, or is derived from, information which was held by any person in theexercise of tax functions, and

(c) is information about any matter relevant, for the purposes of taxfunctions, to tax or duty in the case of any identifiable person,

is guilty of an offence.

(5) Subsections (1) and (4) above do not apply to any disclosure ofinformation—

(a) with lawful authority,

(b) with the consent of any person in whose case the information is about amatter relevant to tax or duty, or

(c) which has been lawfully made available to the public before the disclosureis made.

(6) For the purposes of this section a disclosure of any information is madewith lawful authority if, and only if, it is made—

(a) by a Crown servant in accordance with his official duty,

(b) by any other person for the purposes of the function in the exercise ofwhich he holds the information and without contravening any restriction dulyimposed by the person responsible,

(c) to, or in accordance with an authorisation duly given by, the personresponsible,

(d) in pursuance of any enactment or of any order of a court, or

(e) in connection with the institution of or otherwise for the purposes of anyproceedings relating to any matter within the general responsibility of theCommissioners or, as the case requires, the Board,

and in this subsection “the person responsible” meansthe Commissioners, the Board, the Comptroller or the ParliamentaryCommissioner, as the case requires.

(7) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this sectionto prove that at the time of the alleged offence—

(a) he believed that he had lawful authority to make the disclosure inquestion and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise, or

(b) he believed that the information in question had been lawfully madeavailable to the public before the disclosure was made and had no reasonablecause to believe otherwise.

(8) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twoyears or a fine or both, and

(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six monthsor a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

(9) No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be instituted inEngland and Wales or in Northern Ireland except—

(a) by the Commissioners or the Board, as the case requires, or

(b) by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or, inNorthern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.

(10) In this section—

“the Board” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue,

“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Customsand Excise,

“Crown servant” has the same meaning as in the M4 Official Secrets Act 1989, and

“tax or duty” means any tax or duty within the generalresponsibility of the Commissioners or the Board.

(11) In this section—

(a) references to the Comptroller and Auditor General include the Comptrollerand Auditor General for Northern Ireland,

(b) references to the National Audit Office include the Northern Ireland AuditOffice, and

(c) references to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration includethe Health Service Commissioner for England, the Health Service Commissionerfor Wales, the Health Service Commissioner for Scotland, the Northern IrelandParliamentary Commissioner for Administration and the Northern IrelandCommissioner for Complaints.

(12) This section shall come into force on the repeal of section 2 of the M5 Official Secrets Act 1911.

Marginal Citations

M2 1970 c. 9.

M3 1968 c. 3.

M4 1989c. 6.

M5 1911 c. 28.

[182A F2 Double taxation: disclosure of information. U.K.

(1) A person who discloses any information acquired by him in the exercise of his functions as a member of an advisory commission set up under the Arbitration Convention is guilty of an offence.

(2) Subsection (1) above does not apply to any disclosure of information—

(a) with the consent of the person who supplied the information to the commission, or

(b) which has been lawfully made available to the public before the disclosure is made.

(3) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that at the time of the alleged offence he believed that the information in question had been lawfully made available to the public before the disclosure was made and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both;

(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

(5) No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be instituted in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland except—

(a) by the Board, or

(b) by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or, in Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.

(6) In this section—

• “the Arbitration Convention” has the meaning given by section 815B(4) of the Taxes Act 1988;

• “the Board” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.]

Textual Amendments

F2 S. 182A inserted (16.7.1992) by Finance (No. 2) Act 1992 (c. 48), s. 51(3)

183 Government securities: redemption and transfer. U.K.

(1) In section 47 of the M6 Finance Act 1942 (power to makeregulations about transfer and registration of Government stock)—

(a) the following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph (b) ofsubsection (1)—

“(bb) for the redemption of such stock and bonds;”and

(b) the following subsection shall be inserted after that subsection—

“(1A) Regulations under subsection (1) of this section may make provisionauthorising the Bank of England, in such circumstances and subject to suchconditions as may be prescribed in the regulations, to transfer stock andbonds standing in their books in the name of a deceased person into the nameof another person without requiring the production of probate, confirmationor letters of administration.”

(2) In section 3(1) of the M7 National Debt Act 1972 (powerto make regulations about stock on the National Savings Stock Register) thefollowing paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph (b)—

“(bb) the redemption of stock registered in the register,”.

(3) After section 14 of the M8 National Loans Act 1968 thereshall be inserted—

“14A Redemption of securities held in Issue Department of Bank of England.

(1) Any securities of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom which arefor the time being held in the Issue Department of the Bank of England may beredeemed by the Treasury before maturity at market prices determined in suchmanner as may be agreed between the Treasury and the Bank.

(2) Any expensess incurred by the Treasury in connection with the redemptionof securities under subsection (1) above shall be paid out of the NationalLoans Fund.”

Marginal Citations

M6 1942 c. 21.

M7 1972 c. 65.

M8 1968 c. 13.

184 National savings accounts. U.K.

(1) In section 2 of the M9 National Savings Bank Act 1971(general power to make regulations) after subsection (1) there shall beinserted—

“(1A) Regulations under this section may restrict the classes of persons who mayopen accounts with the National Savings Bank, but any such restriction shallnot apply to any account opened before the coming into force of theregulations imposing the restriction.”

(2) In section 5 of that Act (interest on ordinary deposits) in subsection (1)for the words from the beginning to “in any ordinary deposit account”there shall be substituted “The Director of Savings may, with the consentof the Treasury, from time to time determine the rate or rates at whichinterest is to be payable on amounts deposited in ordinary accounts or thatno interest is to be payable on such amounts, and any such determination inrelation to amounts deposited in any ordinary deposit account may be made”.

(3) After subsection (1) of section 5 of that Act there shall beinserted—

“(1A) The Director of Savings shall give notice in the London, Edinburgh andBelfast Gazettes of any determination under subsection (1) above; and any suchdetermination may affect deposits received at or before, as well as after, thetime the determination is made.”

(4) Subsection (5) of section 5 of that Act (rate of interest on ordinarydeposits to be not less than 2.5 per cent per annum) shall cease to haveeffect.

(5) Subsections (2) and (3) above shall come into force on 1st October 1989.

Marginal Citations

M9 1971 c. 29.

185 Winding up of Redemption Annuities Account. U.K.

As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Treasury shall causeto be wound up the Redemption Annuities Account (which was established undersection 25 of the Tithe M10 Act 1936 and which becameredundant on the redemption on 1st October 1988 of all remaining stock issuedunder that Act), and the surplus standing to the credit of that accountimmediately before it is wound up shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Marginal Citations

M10 1936 c. 43.