A proposed amendment to FA 2008 Sch 36 is intended to bring HMRC’s information powers into line with international standards after a peer review by the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes found that the powers fall short on ‘one particular issue’.
‘The international standard requires a jurisdiction to exchange information in response to a valid request from an overseas revenue authority where the taxpayer is identified, whether by name or by other identifying information. Schedule 36 does not currently provide for this to happen where the taxpayer’s name is not provided,’ HMRC said in a consultation document published on 7 July.
The document sets out options for legislation in FA 2012 to ‘ensure that HMRC can collect information in specific cases where the full identity of the taxpayer is not known but can be ascertained by reference to other available information’. A ‘possible draft clause’ is provided to illustrate HMRC’s preferred option.
The Government has decided that a change, allowing an information notice to be issued where identifying information about a person is held but the full identity is not known, should apply for all taxes covered by Sch 36.
A proposed amendment to FA 2008 Sch 36 is intended to bring HMRC’s information powers into line with international standards after a peer review by the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes found that the powers fall short on ‘one particular issue’.
‘The international standard requires a jurisdiction to exchange information in response to a valid request from an overseas revenue authority where the taxpayer is identified, whether by name or by other identifying information. Schedule 36 does not currently provide for this to happen where the taxpayer’s name is not provided,’ HMRC said in a consultation document published on 7 July.
The document sets out options for legislation in FA 2012 to ‘ensure that HMRC can collect information in specific cases where the full identity of the taxpayer is not known but can be ascertained by reference to other available information’. A ‘possible draft clause’ is provided to illustrate HMRC’s preferred option.
The Government has decided that a change, allowing an information notice to be issued where identifying information about a person is held but the full identity is not known, should apply for all taxes covered by Sch 36.
