CH180220 - Dishonest tax agents: who is a person
For the purposes of dealing with dishonest tax agents, a tax agent is an individual, see CH180180. Only a tax agent, or former tax agent, can be charged a penalty for dishonest conduct. Therefore, only an individual can be charged with a penalty for dishonest conduct.
In addition to referring to tax agents, this guidance also refers to ‘persons’.
A person in this guidance includes the tax agent who is behaving dishonestly, but also includes
- other individuals
- a company
- an unincorporated association such as a members’ club
- a charity or charitable company
- a partner
- a partnership (for VAT purposes only)
- the representative member of a VAT group
- an individual or organisation acting in the capacity of personal representative
- a pension scheme administrator, and
- a trustee.
The areas of this guidance that apply to persons, and not just tax agents, are
- offences of concealment in connection with a conduct notice, see CH182180
- requiring them to comply with a file access notice, see CH182570
- penalties for failing to comply with a file access notice, see CH183300+
- reasonable excuse provisions for failing to comply with the file access notice, see CH183500+
- offences of concealment in connection with a file access notice, see CH183420.