CH178010 - Sanctionable conduct by tax advisers: conduct notice overview
If we have gathered sufficient evidence to determine on the balance of probabilities that a tax adviser is engaging in, or has engaged in, sanctionable conduct, then we will issue a conduct notice. An authorised officer must approve the decision to issue a conduct notice.
We must issue the adviser with a conduct notice before we can assess them for a penalty.
Once we have issued an adviser with a conduct notice, we should give them a reasonable opportunity to make any final representations to us before we then issue the penalty. The adviser may, at the conduct notice stage, provide information or explanation that changes our determination that they have engaged in sanctionable conduct.
If they do, we should then withdraw the conduct notice and not issue a penalty.
If they do not, or if they do not engage with us following the issuance of the conduct notice, then we should proceed to assessing the adviser for a penalty.
Where we have determined that multiple tax advisers have engaged in sanctionable conduct in relation to a single tax loss, we may use the powers on each of those tax advisers.
However, in some cases it may be more appropriate to use the powers on a tax adviser who controls or has responsibility for the actions of others, such as a company that employs tax advisers who have engaged in sanctionable conduct under instruction of their employer. It will always be important to make any decision based on the specific facts of the individual case. [See CH178030: Multiple tax advisers]
FA12/SCH38/PARAS 4-6 as amended