Finance (No. 2) Act 2017

Publishing details of persons assessed to penalty or penalties under paragraph 1

30 (1) The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“the Commissioners”) may publish information about a person (P) if in consequence of an investigation they consider that sub-paragraph (2) or (3) applies in relation to P.

(2) This sub-paragraph applies if—

(a) P has been found to have incurred one or more relevant penalties under paragraph 1 (and has been assessed or is the subject of a contract settlement), and

(b) the offshore potential lost revenue in relation to the penalty, or the aggregate of the offshore potential lost revenue in relation to each of the penalties, exceeds £25,000.

(3) This sub-paragraph applies if P has been found to have incurred 5 or more relevant penalties under paragraph 1.

(4) A penalty incurred by P under paragraph 1 is “relevant” if —

(a) P was aware at any time during the RTC period that at the end of the 2016-17 tax year the person had relevant offshore tax non-compliance to correct, and

(b) the penalty relates to the failure to correct that non-compliance.

(5) The information that may be published is—

(a) P’s name (including any trading name, previous name or pseudonym),

(b) P’s address (or registered office),

(c) the nature of any business carried on by P,

(d) the amount of the penalty or penalties,

(e) the offshore potential lost revenue in relation to the penalty or the aggregate of the offshore potential lost revenue in relation to each of the penalties,

(f) the periods or times to which the uncorrected relevant offshore tax non-compliance relates,

(g) any other information that the Commissioners consider it appropriate to publish in order to make clear the person’s identity.

(6) In sub-paragraph (5)(f) the reference to the uncorrected relevant offshore tax non-compliance is to so much of P’s relevant offshore tax non-compliance at the end of the 2016-17 tax year as P failed to correct within the RTC period.

(7) The information may be published in any manner that the Commissioners consider appropriate.

(8) Before publishing any information the Commissioners must—

(a) inform P that they are considering doing so, and

(b) afford P the opportunity to make representations about whether it should be published.

(9) No information may be published before the day on which the penalty becomes final or, where more than one penalty is involved, the latest day on which any of the penalties becomes final.

(10) No information may be published for the first time after the end of the period of one year beginning with that day.

(11) No information may be published (or continue to be published) after the end of the period of one year beginning with the day on which it is first published.

(12) No information may be published if the amount of the penalty—

(a) is reduced under paragraph 16 to the minimum permitted amount (being 100% of the offshore PLR), or

(b) is reduced under paragraph 17 to nil or stayed.

(13) For the purposes of this paragraph a penalty becomes final—

(a) if it has been assessed, when the time for any appeal or further appeal relating to it expires or, if later, any appeal or final appeal relating to it is finally determined, and

(b) if a contract settlement has been made, at the time when the contract is made.

(14) In this paragraph “contract settlement”, in relation to a penalty, means a contract between the Commissioners and the person under which the Commissioners undertake not to assess the penalty or (if it has been assessed) not to take proceedings to recover it.