Guidance

Compliance checks: third party information notices — enablers of defeated tax avoidance CC/FS84

Published 6 January 2026

This factsheet tells you about third party information notices. It also tells you when we may ask an independent tribunal to approve our request to give a third party information notice.

In this factsheet where we say ‘you’ this means the third party. Where we say ‘another person’ this means the first party we are checking is or may be liable to enabler penalties.

This factsheet is one of a series. For the full list, go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC compliance checks factsheets’.

About third party information notices for enablers

A third party information notice is a document that legally requires you to give us certain information or documents, or both. This is to help us check whether another person is or may be liable to enabler penalties for enabling abusive tax arrangements.

When we use third party information notices

Sometimes, when we’re checking whether another person is or may be liable to enabler penalties, we’ll ask a third party to give us information and documents we need. If they don’t do this, we may give them an information notice.

In some circumstances, we may ask the independent tribunal that deals with tax to approve the issue of an information notice. We’ll tell the third party if the notice we give has been approved by the tribunal.

Sometimes we may need to give an information notice without asking for the information or documents first.

When we need permission to use a third party notice

We’ll usually ask the first party to agree to us sending an information notice to a third party for the information and documents we need.

We can ask the independent tribunal to approve the issue of a third party notice. If we do, we’ll usually ask both parties to tell us if it’s difficult for the third party to give us the information or documents. If either party has any concerns, we’ll tell the tribunal so they can consider these when deciding whether to approve the issue of the notice.

We may ask a third party for business records they are required by tax law to keep. If we do, then before issuing the information notice we don’t need:

• the agreement of the first party
• approval from the tribunal

What a third party information notice will tell you

A third party information notice will tell you:

• the name of the person it relates to (unless the tribunal has decided it does not need to)
• which documents or information, or both you must give us
• how and when to give us what we need
• about any penalties we may charge you if you do not give us the information or documents or both, by the deadline
• about any appeal rights

What we can ask for in a third party information notice

We can ask for any information or documents or both, if we believe we need them for our check and it’s reasonable to ask for them.

What we cannot ask for in a third party information notice

We cannot ask you to give us information or documents or both. This is where:

• you don’t have, and you can’t get (or get copies of) from whoever holds them
• they relate to a person who died more than 4 years before the notice is issued
• they have been created as part of the preparation for a tax appeal
• they are only about a person’s physical, mental, spiritual or personal welfare
• they are privileged communications between lawyers and clients, and about getting or giving legal advice
• you’re an auditor or journalist and the information or documents have been created as part of your job
• you’re mentioned in journalistic material and the information or documents have been created by a journalist as part of their job

The rules about what information and documents we cannot ask for can be complicated. If you think that we’ve asked for something that we shouldn’t have, you can talk to the officer who gave you the information notice.

Before we ask a tribunal to approve giving you a third party notice

We only need to ask a tribunal to approve a third party information notice when:

• the information or documents or both we need are not statutory records that relate to the supply of services or the acquisition of goods and services
• the first party hasn’t given us permission to give you an information notice

Before we ask a tribunal to approve a notice, we’ll normally give you the opportunity to make representations to the tribunal. Those representations can be about the information or documents or both we intend to request. You or the first party cannot however attend the tribunal hearing.

If you disagree with a third party information notice

If you think the request in the information notice is unreasonable, and we don’t agree, you may be able to appeal to the tribunal. The information notice will tell you how to do this.

You cannot appeal against a tribunal approved notice or an information notice that is a request for statutory records. This is where the statutory records relate to the:

• supply of goods or services
• importation of goods as part of your business

Statutory records are the records that tax laws say a person must keep.

You can only appeal against a third party information notice that has been approved by the first party. You can appeal if you believe it’s too difficult for you to comply with the notice.

If you don’t do what a third party information notice asks

If you don’t comply with the information notice by giving us everything the notice asks for by the deadline, we’ve given you, we may charge you a £300 penalty.

If you still haven’t complied with the notice by the time we’ve charged you the £300 penalty, we can then charge you daily penalties. Those penalties are up to £60 a day for each day that you don’t comply.

When we won’t charge a penalty for not complying

We won’t charge a penalty if you have a reasonable excuse for not complying with the information notice. Instead, we’ll ask you to give us the information or documents (or replacement documents) or both by an agreed date.

Once the reasonable excuse has ended, the person must have put things right without delay.

Whether a person has a reasonable excuse depends upon the circumstances in which the failure occurred, and their particular circumstances and abilities. This may mean that what’s a reasonable excuse for one person may not be a reasonable excuse for someone else. Examples of reasonable excuse may include when:

• you’ve been seriously ill
• someone close to you has died
• you’ve lost the documents in a fire or a flood

Penalties for giving inaccurate information or documents

We may charge you a penalty of up to £3,000 If you carelessly or deliberately:

• give us inaccurate information
• produce a document containing an inaccuracy

We won’t charge you a penalty if you tell us about the inaccuracy at the time you give us the information or produce the document. If you later find an inaccuracy, you must tell us without delay.

If you give us information that you know to be untrue

We may carry out a criminal investigation if you give us information that you know is untrue, whether verbally or in a document. If we do this, it means you could be prosecuted and taken to court.

Concealing, destroying or disposing of documents

We may charge a £300 penalty if you, or another person acting on your behalf, conceals, destroys, or disposes of any document. This is any document that we’ve:

• asked for in an information notice that has been approved by the tribunal
• told you we intend to ask for in an information notice that has been approved by the tribunal
• It’s a criminal offence to conceal, destroy or otherwise dispose of any documents that we’ve:
• asked for in an information notice that has been approved by the tribunal
• told you we intend to ask for in an information notice that has been approved by the tribunal

We may carry out a criminal investigation if you or someone acting on your behalf commits this offence. If we do this, it means you could be prosecuted and taken to court.

Other types of third party information notices

Third party information notices when the identity of the first party is unknown

This type of notice requires a third party to give us information about (either):

• a person whose identity is not known to us
• a class of persons whose individual identities are not known to us

This type of notice can only be used where there’s good reason to believe that someone not following tax laws could seriously affect how tax is assessed or collected. There are a few exceptions to this rule that relate to pension matters, subsidiaries, partners, and involved third parties. If these apply, we’ll tell the third party and explain what the exceptions mean.

This type of notice must be approved by a tribunal and issued by a specialist officer of HMRC.

Identification notices

This type of notice requires a third party to give us information that will help us identify a first party from other information we hold. For example, an invoice or credit card number. With this type of notice, we can only ask for the person’s name, address and date of birth (if known).

This type of notice does not need approval from a tribunal. It must be issued by a specialist officer of HMRC.

Legal professional privilege

We cannot insist that you give us information or documents that are covered by legal professional privilege (LPP). You can refuse to give us information and documents because of that privilege. However, if you choose to give them to us, this may help us with our check. If you give them to us, the right for them to stay private would be lost.

LPP is a complex area of the law that only properly applies in limited circumstances. We may challenge a claim to LPP if we don’t agree it applies to the information or documents being withheld.

You may decide not to give us certain information or documents because you believe they are covered by LPP. If you do, you’ll need to let us have a list of everything you’re not giving to us. The list should describe each piece of information or document that you’re not giving to us and say why you’re not giving it. You do not have to describe the information or document if describing it would mean revealing private information covered by the privilege.

If you need extra support

If you have any health or personal circumstances that may make it difficult for you to deal with us, please tell the officer who contacted you. They’ll help you in whatever way they can. For more information about this, go to GOV.UK and search ‘get help from HMRC if you need extra support’.

You can also ask someone else to deal with us on your behalf, for example, a professional adviser, friend, or relative. However, we may still need to talk or write to you directly about some things. If we need to write to you, we’ll send a copy of our letter to the person you’ve asked us to deal with. If we need to talk to you, they can be with you when we do, if you prefer.

Additional information

Our privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from us when we ask for information or hold information about you. Go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC Privacy Notice’.

If you’re not happy with our service

If you’re unhappy with our service, tell the person or office you’ve been dealing with. They’ll try to put things right. If you are still not happy, they’ll tell you how to make a formal complaint.