New factsheet on facilitation penalty checks

HMRC’s new Factsheet CC/FS71: Compliance checks: information notices - penalties for facilitating avoidance schemes involving non-resident promoters provides details of the information notices HMRC is able to give when checking if a taxpayer needs to pay a penalty for facilitating an avoidance scheme involving a non-resident promoter.

The factsheet confirms that HMRC can ask for any information or documents (or both) to ‘help us with our check if it is “reasonably required”. This means that we believe we need it for our check and it’s reasonable to ask for it.’

The factsheet also sets out the exclusions. For example, HMRC cannot use an information notice to ask for information that the taxpayer does not have in their possession or could not reasonably obtain. Note that this appears to contrast with proposals to relax this principle in relation to transfer pricing documentation.