CH184260 - Dishonest tax agents: penalty for dishonest conduct: disclosure: determining the quality

To arrive at the quality of disclosure you need to consider the three elements of the disclosure (telling, helping and giving access, see CH184240). Do this by reference to

  • timing
  • nature, and
  • extent.

Additionally, you must also consider the person’s compliance with any file access notice that we issued in connection with the dishonest conduct.

The guidance at CH184300 for telling, CH184400 for helping and CH184420 for giving access, explains the circumstances that you will need to take into account when considering the quality of a disclosure.

When you have considered all relevant factors, the amount of the penalty will have regard to the three elements of the disclosure (telling, helping and giving access). Consider any representations made by the person. They may be able to offer evidence that leads you to a different view of the disclosure.

A person’s quality of disclosure will not be disadvantaged if they do not disclose documents that they consider to be privileged, see CH182940, or are covered by any of the other exclusions.

There are overlaps between the three elements of disclosure, so you may consider a single course of action under more than one heading. Equally, you may consider a failure to do something or a misleading action under more than one heading.

FA12/SCH38/PARA26 (3) - (7)