CH179630 - Sanctionable conduct by tax advisers: publishing details of tax adviser sanctionable conduct: before we publish details
We are under a duty to publish information about a tax adviser if we issue them with a penalty of more than £7,500.
There is therefore no requirement for us to allow the tax adviser a reasonable opportunity to make representations about whether the information should be published, because such representations would make no difference – we are under a duty to publish regardless.
Nonetheless, we should – as a matter of a good practice – always inform the adviser that we will be publishing their information before we do so. We should tell the adviser what information we will publish about them and when we will publish it.
If the tax adviser is an individual who works or worked for an organisation (a company etc.), then we also have the power to publish information about that organisation. This is a discretionary power (in other words, we are not required to publish information about the organisation). We should only use the power where we think it is necessary to publish information about the organisation in order to make clear the identity of the individual tax adviser who has been penalised. The power is not there as a means of ‘naming and shaming’ an organisation who has not itself been penalised under the sanctionable conduct provisions.
Before publishing any information about the organisation, we must
- inform the organisation that we are considering doing so, and
- allow the organisation reasonable opportunity to make representations about whether the name of that organisation should be published, see CH884400.
If the tax adviser no longer works for the organisation, we should make that clear in the information we publish. We should also make it clear that the organisation itself has not been found to have engaged in sanctionable conduct, only the individual.
Note that the above does not apply where the organisation itself has been penalised. In those circumstances, the organisation is the tax adviser and so we are under a duty to publish information about them.
There is no right of appeal to the tribunal against the decision to publish information about a tax adviser (or an organisation for which they work or worked). However, our decision about what information to publish, including any information about an organisation for which the adviser works or worked, may be challenged through the judicial review process (see ARTG12010).
FA12/SCH38/PARA28 as amended