CH178310 - Sanctionable conduct by tax advisers: penalty for sanctionable conduct: disclosure: helping
Helping includes
- giving reasonable help in providing details of the sanctionable conduct
- positive assistance as opposed to passive acceptance or obstruction
- actively engaging in the work to accurately quantify the tax liability of the affected clients, and
- volunteering any information relevant to the disclosure.
In considering whether a person has given reasonable help, we should always take account of the abilities and circumstances of the person, including for example any obligation of confidentiality they owe to their client.
What is important is the timing, nature and extent of the help the person gives in providing details of the sanctionable conduct.
The timing is relevant to the period from the time of the sanctionable conduct to the date of disclosure. As well as there not being any avoidable delays there should be an active approach, providing information and assistance as early as possible.
The nature covers whether the help is useful and saves us time and effort in establishing the sanctionable conduct and any attributable lost revenue. For the tax adviser to just appear to be helpful but not actually produce anything of use is not what is required.
The extent of the help covers the whole period of the investigation from start to finish and all aspects of that investigation. If help is only received for part of the period or for certain aspects, a full reduction would not be given.
FA12/SCH38/PARA26 (3) - (7)