CH180100 - Dishonest tax agents: overview
This guidance explains the powers that HMRC can use if we determine that a tax agent is acting dishonestly.
A tax agent is a person who, in the course of business, assists other people with their tax affairs.
Dishonest conduct is where the tax agent does something dishonest with the view of bringing about a loss of tax revenue in the course of assisting clients with their tax affairs.
When we determine that a tax agent has engaged in dishonest conduct we will issue them with a ‘conduct noticeâ€�. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp conduct notice notifies the tax agent of our determination that they have engaged in dishonest conduct. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp person can appeal against our determination that they have engaged in dishonest conduct.
Where a tax agent has already been issued with a conduct notice, or convicted of an offence of dishonesty in relation to tax, we may issue them, or another person holding relevant documents, with a ‘file access notice.� This enables us to obtain their files, so that we can determine the extent of the dishonest conduct.
We must get approval from the tribunal before we issue a file access notice.
»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýappre are certain documents and information that we cannot request using a file access notice.
A person can be charged penalties when they fail to comply with a file access notice, unless they have a reasonable excuse for the failure.
Where we have issued a conduct notice to a tax agent, we can
- charge a penalty for dishonest conduct of up to £50,000, and
- publish the details of the tax agent if we have charged a penalty of more than £5,000 for dishonest conduct.
»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp penalty for dishonest conduct will be less if the tax agent makes a disclosure.
A person can be prosecuted if they conceal, destroy or otherwise dispose of material documents after we issue a conduct notice, or after we tell them that we will likely issue a conduct notice, or after we issue a file access notice.