FCIM204040 - Where CDF offer is made 30 June 2014 onwards: action following issue of Code of Practice 9: reviewing the Outline Disclosure

Provided you are satisfied that the Outline Disclosure is valid, see FCIM204030, you should acknowledge receipt immediately but do not comment on its content.

Following your review of the Outline Disclosure you must submit the case to the Authorising Officer with your recommendations on how to progress the case.

Usually, there will be two options:

• It covers the frauds you suspected (and may include other frauds as well).
• You believe that it does not cover all the frauds you suspect and so is incomplete.

If the Outline Disclosure includes all the frauds you suspected, then you may conclude that the customer has met his initial obligation under the Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF).

Subject to the approval of the Authorising Officer, you should write to notify the customer that the Outline Disclosure has been accepted for the purposes of the contractual arrangement, using the standard letter in SEES. Where a valid Outline Disclosure has been made the customer has an absolute assurance that HMRC will not undertake a criminal investigation for what they have disclosed in their Outline Disclosure.

You cannot give the customer any such assurance for any fraud that has not been included in their Outline Disclosure. When writing to the customer you must not indicate that you accept the Outline Disclosure covers the full extent of outstanding liabilities. The process leading up to formal disclosure is required to give us assurance on that point, see FCIM204050 for guidance when an incomplete Outline Disclosure is received.