HMRC has published a guidance note on FB 2014 (Part 5 and Schs 30–32), promoters of tax avoidance schemes. It contains a flowchart and examples. The guidance explains that the objectives of the regime are to:
The regime builds on (DOTAS), drawing on and reinforcing existing disclosure obligations and sharing many similar definitions. The guidance therefore frequently refers to the existing DOTAS guidance.
The regime involves a graduated series of sanctions. There are two key steps:
Threshold conditions include:
A conduct notice is issued by an authorised officer of HMRC (i.e. authorized under FB 2014) and imposes conditions on a promoter that must be complied with. The legislation sets out the purposes for which conditions may be imposed by a conduct notice. For example, these are to ensure that the promoter:
The guidance stresses that the conditions should be chosen to address the poor conduct of a small minority of promoters who may, for example:
Although there is no appeal against the issue of a conduct notice (which can last up to two years) there are three important safeguards. These are:
If a promoter breaches one or more conditions in a conduct notice, an authorised officer of HMRC may ask the First-tier Tribunal for approval to issue a monitoring notice. There is a right of appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal to do so. If a monitoring notice is issued the monitored promoter is subject to a more stringent regime that includes:
HMRC expects that few promoters will be issued with conduct notices and the great majority of those will comply with the conditions in the notices. This means that the much more significant sanctions consequent on a monitoring notice will only be imposed in very few cases and subject to prior approval by the First-tier Tribunal that the issue of the notice is justified. Further, the provisions that would publicly identify a monitored promoter do not apply until the promoter’s appeal rights have been exhausted.
HMRC has published a guidance note on FB 2014 (Part 5 and Schs 30–32), promoters of tax avoidance schemes. It contains a flowchart and examples. The guidance explains that the objectives of the regime are to:
The regime builds on (DOTAS), drawing on and reinforcing existing disclosure obligations and sharing many similar definitions. The guidance therefore frequently refers to the existing DOTAS guidance.
The regime involves a graduated series of sanctions. There are two key steps:
Threshold conditions include:
A conduct notice is issued by an authorised officer of HMRC (i.e. authorized under FB 2014) and imposes conditions on a promoter that must be complied with. The legislation sets out the purposes for which conditions may be imposed by a conduct notice. For example, these are to ensure that the promoter:
The guidance stresses that the conditions should be chosen to address the poor conduct of a small minority of promoters who may, for example:
Although there is no appeal against the issue of a conduct notice (which can last up to two years) there are three important safeguards. These are:
If a promoter breaches one or more conditions in a conduct notice, an authorised officer of HMRC may ask the First-tier Tribunal for approval to issue a monitoring notice. There is a right of appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal to do so. If a monitoring notice is issued the monitored promoter is subject to a more stringent regime that includes:
HMRC expects that few promoters will be issued with conduct notices and the great majority of those will comply with the conditions in the notices. This means that the much more significant sanctions consequent on a monitoring notice will only be imposed in very few cases and subject to prior approval by the First-tier Tribunal that the issue of the notice is justified. Further, the provisions that would publicly identify a monitored promoter do not apply until the promoter’s appeal rights have been exhausted.