Lee Sharpe looks at what HMRC has been getting up to when flexing its latest information powers.
In broad terms, when HMRC wants to go ‘fishing’, it is supposed to cast a very wide net and use its bulk information powers (FA 2011 Sch 23). This involves going to a third-party data holder such as a bank and asking it to provide details about its customers, clients, users, etc., on a generic basis, where the population will likely include many thousands, if not tens of thousands, of individuals.
Thus, a sense of anonymity is theoretically preserved; a particular taxpayer should be scrutinised only if the results of the report from the online website, bank or credit card company (etc.) suggest an outlier in the field or that something specific is amiss (i.e., they should have done something to warrant any attention).
Just curious…
Where HMRC
