PART 3Annual information notices and naming
Annual information notices
17(1)A person (“P”) who has been given a warning notice under this Schedule must give HMRC a written notice (an “information notice”) in respect of each reporting period in the warning period (see sub-paragraph (11)).
(2)An information notice must be given not later than the 30th day after the end of the reporting period to which it relates.
(3)An information notice must state whether or not P—
(a)has in the reporting period delivered a return, or made a claim or election, on the basis that a relevant tax advantage arises, or has since the end of the reporting period delivered on that basis a return which P was required to deliver before the end of that period,
(b)has in the reporting period failed to take action which P would be required to take under or by virtue of an enactment relating to tax but for particular DOTAS arrangements or disclosable VAT arrangements to which P is a party,
(c)has in the reporting period become a party to arrangements which—
(i)relate to the position with respect to VAT of another person (“S”) who has made supplies of goods or services to P, and
(ii)might be expected to enable P to obtain a relevant tax advantage (“the expected tax advantage”) in connection with those supplies of goods or services,
(d)has failed to deliver a return which P was required to deliver by a date falling in the reporting period.
(4)In this paragraph “relevant tax advantage” means a tax advantage which particular DOTAS arrangements or disclosable VAT arrangements enable, or might be expected to enable, P to obtain.
(5)If P has, in the reporting period concerned, made a return, claim or election on the basis mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(a) or failed to take action as mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(b) the information notice must—
(a)explain (on the assumptions made by P in so acting or failing to act) how the DOTAS arrangements or disclosable VAT arrangements enable P to obtain the tax advantage, or (as the case may be) have the result that P is not required to take the action in question, and
(b)state (on the same assumptions) the amount of the relevant tax advantage mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(a) or (as the case may be) the amount of any tax advantage which arises in connection with the absence of a requirement to take the action mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(b).
(6)If P has, in the reporting period, become a party to arrangements such as are mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(c), the information notice—
(a)must state whether or not it is P’s view that the expected tax advantage arises to P, and
(b)if that is P’s view, must explain how the arrangements enable P to obtain the tax advantage and state the amount of the tax advantage.
(7)If the time by which P must deliver a return falls within a reporting period and P fails to deliver the return by that time, HMRC may require P to give HMRC a written notice (a “supplementary information notice”) setting out any matters which P would have been required to set out in an information notice had P delivered the return in that reporting period.
(8)A requirement under sub-paragraph (7) must be made by a written notice which states the period within which P must comply with the notice.
(9)If P fails to comply with a requirement of (or imposed under) this paragraph HMRC may by written notice extend the warning period to the end of the period of 5 years beginning with—
(a)the day by which the information notice or supplementary information notice should have been given (see sub-paragraphs (2) and (8)) or, as the case requires,
(b)the day on which P gave the defective information notice or supplementary information notice to HMRC,
or, if earlier, the time when the warning period would have expired but for the extension.
(10)HMRC may permit information notices given by members of the same group of companies (as defined in paragraph 46(9)) to be combined.
(11)For the purposes of this paragraph—
(a)the first reporting period in any warning period begins with the first day of the warning period and ends with a day specified by HMRC (“the specified day”),
(b)the remainder of the warning period is divided into further reporting periods each of which begins immediately after the end of the preceding reporting period and is twelve months long or (if that would be shorter) ends at the end of the warning period.
Naming
18(1)The Commissioners may publish information about a person if the person—
(a)incurs a relevant defeat in relation to arrangements which the person has used in a warning period, and
(b)has been given at least two warning notices in respect of other defeats of arrangements which were used in the same warning period.
(2)Information published for the first time under sub-paragraph (1) must be published within the 12 months beginning with the day on which the most recent of the warning notices falling within that sub-paragraph has been given to the person.
(3)No information may be published (or continue to be published) after the end of the period of 12 months beginning with the day on which it is first published.
(4)The information that may be published is—
(a)the person’s name (including any trading name, previous name or pseudonym),
(b)the person’s address (or registered office),
(c)the nature of any business carried on by the person,
(d)information about the fiscal effect of the defeated arrangements (had they not been defeated), for instance information about total amounts of tax understated or total amounts by which claims, or statements of losses, have been adjusted,
(e)the amount of any penalty to which the person is liable under paragraph 30 in respect of the relevant defeat of any defeated arrangements,
(f)the periods in which or times when the defeated arrangements were used, and
(g)any other information the Commissioners may consider it appropriate to publish in order to make clear the person’s identity.
(5)If the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) is a member of a group of companies (as defined in paragraph 46(9)), the information which may be published also includes—
(a)any trading name of the group, and
(b)information about other members of the group of the kind described in sub-paragraph (4)(a), (b) or (c).
(6)If the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) is a person carrying on a trade or business in partnership, the information which may be published also includes—
(a)any trading name of the partnership, and
(b)information about other members of the partnership of the kind described in sub-paragraph (4)(a) or (b).
(7)The information may be published in any manner the Commissioners may consider appropriate.
(8)Before publishing any information the Commissioners—
(a)must inform the person that they are considering doing so, and
(b)afford the person reasonable opportunity to make representations about whether or not it should be published.
(9)Arrangements are “defeated arrangements” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) if the person used them in the warning period mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) and a warning notice specifying the defeat of those arrangements has been given to the person before the information is published.
(10)If a person has been given a single warning notice in relation to two or more relevant defeats, the person is treated for the purposes of this paragraph as having been given a separate warning notice in relation to each of those relevant defeats.
(11)Nothing in this paragraph prevents the power under sub-paragraph (1) from being exercised on a subsequent occasion in relation to arrangements used by the person in a different warning period.