Everybody will be familiar with information notices issued by HMRC under FA 2008 Sch 36. These are really important as they are statutory notices and must be complied with – and of course there are penalties for non-compliance.
However, an information notice can only be issued by HMRC ‘if the information or document is reasonably required by the officer for the purpose of checking the taxpayer’s tax position’ (Sch 36 para 1).
If the notice seeks information which is not reasonably required for the purposes of checking the taxpayer’s tax position there is a right of appeal to the FTT – although not where the documents sought are part of the taxpayer’s ‘statutory records’ which are records that the taxpayer has a legal requirement to keep and preserve for tax purposes.
Information sought by HMRC can be very wide-ranging and there are lots of arguments about whether the information is ‘reasonably required’.
A useful summary of the position was recently provided by the FTT in the case of Lifeplus Europe Ltd v HMRC [2026] UKFTT 797 (TC). I hesitate to set it all out here, but the decision (particularly at [180]–[190]) is well worth a read if you are faced with a statutory information notice.
I will just mention a few extracts to whet your appetite (or put you off completely, if you are (inexplicably) not excited by the reading of tax cases):
‘In determining the issue of whether the documents are reasonably required, our consideration should be focused on whether there is a “rational connection” between the information and documents sought, and the underlying investigation [or enquiry]’: Kotton [[2019] EWHC 1327], at [62]. It is for HMRC to establish a rational connection with the request, and the underlying tax position being considered. Documents that are merely “informative” and/or “useful context” to an enquiry are not “reasonably required”.
‘It is common ground that a document which is not “relevant” to a purpose identified by the Information Notice would not be “reasonably required”. A mere desire for background information is insufficient to justify the issuing of a notice. HMRC can only reasonably require information which relates to “identified tax issues”. That principle recognises that HMRC cannot go on “fishing expeditions”.
‘In Avonside [[2021] UKFTT 158 (TC)] at [68], Judge Nicholl referred to Simler J’s judgment in Derrin [[2014] EWHC 1152 (Admin)], and said this: “68. … I have also taken account of the caselaw that provides that HMRC’s request must be “genuinely directed to the purpose for which the notice may be given” (Simler J in Derrin at [20]).
‘A request for information or documents “cannot be unreasonable, or entirely without foundation” and while “that does not rule out an element of uncertainty or speculation on HMRC’s part” …, it does not allow mere speculation or allow HMRC to use Schedule 36 “to “fish” for possible issues…’
These extracts need to be read in their full context, but they do show that such requests for information do need to be justified on rational (and not speculative) grounds.
Everybody will be familiar with information notices issued by HMRC under FA 2008 Sch 36. These are really important as they are statutory notices and must be complied with – and of course there are penalties for non-compliance.
However, an information notice can only be issued by HMRC ‘if the information or document is reasonably required by the officer for the purpose of checking the taxpayer’s tax position’ (Sch 36 para 1).
If the notice seeks information which is not reasonably required for the purposes of checking the taxpayer’s tax position there is a right of appeal to the FTT – although not where the documents sought are part of the taxpayer’s ‘statutory records’ which are records that the taxpayer has a legal requirement to keep and preserve for tax purposes.
Information sought by HMRC can be very wide-ranging and there are lots of arguments about whether the information is ‘reasonably required’.
A useful summary of the position was recently provided by the FTT in the case of Lifeplus Europe Ltd v HMRC [2026] UKFTT 797 (TC). I hesitate to set it all out here, but the decision (particularly at [180]–[190]) is well worth a read if you are faced with a statutory information notice.
I will just mention a few extracts to whet your appetite (or put you off completely, if you are (inexplicably) not excited by the reading of tax cases):
‘In determining the issue of whether the documents are reasonably required, our consideration should be focused on whether there is a “rational connection” between the information and documents sought, and the underlying investigation [or enquiry]’: Kotton [[2019] EWHC 1327], at [62]. It is for HMRC to establish a rational connection with the request, and the underlying tax position being considered. Documents that are merely “informative” and/or “useful context” to an enquiry are not “reasonably required”.
‘It is common ground that a document which is not “relevant” to a purpose identified by the Information Notice would not be “reasonably required”. A mere desire for background information is insufficient to justify the issuing of a notice. HMRC can only reasonably require information which relates to “identified tax issues”. That principle recognises that HMRC cannot go on “fishing expeditions”.
‘In Avonside [[2021] UKFTT 158 (TC)] at [68], Judge Nicholl referred to Simler J’s judgment in Derrin [[2014] EWHC 1152 (Admin)], and said this: “68. … I have also taken account of the caselaw that provides that HMRC’s request must be “genuinely directed to the purpose for which the notice may be given” (Simler J in Derrin at [20]).
‘A request for information or documents “cannot be unreasonable, or entirely without foundation” and while “that does not rule out an element of uncertainty or speculation on HMRC’s part” …, it does not allow mere speculation or allow HMRC to use Schedule 36 “to “fish” for possible issues…’
These extracts need to be read in their full context, but they do show that such requests for information do need to be justified on rational (and not speculative) grounds.
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