Corporation Tax Act 2010

Clearances and power to obtain information

831 Clearance procedure

(1) This section applies if a company considers that the condition mentioned in section 819(2)(a), (b) or (d) may be met as respects a gain of a capital nature which it—

(a) has obtained from the disposal of land, or

(b) would obtain from a proposed disposal of land.

(2) The company may provide the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs with written particulars showing how the gain has arisen or would arise.

(3) The Commissioners must notify the company whether or not they are satisfied that, in the circumstances described in the particulars, it will not, or would not, be liable to tax on the gain as a result of this Part.

(4) The notification must be given before the end of the period of 30 days beginning with the day after that on which the particulars are received.

(5) A company notified by the Commissioners under this section that they are so satisfied is not liable to corporation tax on the gain as a result of this Part.

(6) A notification under this section about the Commissioners’ decision concerning a gain is void if the particulars given under this section about the gain do not make a full and accurate disclosure of all facts and considerations relating to it which are material to the decision.

832 Power to obtain information

(1) An officer of Revenue and Customs may by notice require any person to provide the officer within such period as the officer may direct with such particulars as the officer may reasonably require for the purposes of this Part.

(2) That period must be at least 30 days.

(3) The particulars which a person must provide under this section, if required to do so by such a notice, include particulars about—

(a) transactions or arrangements with respect to which the person is or was acting on behalf of others,

(b) transactions or arrangements which in the opinion of the officer should properly be investigated for the purposes of this Part, although in the person’s opinion no liability to corporation tax arises as a result of this Part, and

(c) whether the person has taken or is taking any part and, if so, what part in transactions or arrangements of a description specified in the notice.

(4) Subsection (3) is subject to subsections (5) and (6).

(5) In relation to anything done by a relevant lawyer on behalf of a client who does not consent to the provision of information required to be provided by a notice under subsection (1), the relevant lawyer may not be compelled under this section to do more than—

(a) state that the relevant lawyer was acting on behalf of a client, and

(b) give the name and address of the client.

(6) A relevant lawyer is not treated as having taken part in a transaction or arrangement for the purposes of subsection (3)(c) just because of giving professional advice to a client about it.

(7) In this section “relevant lawyer” means a barrister, advocate, solicitor or other legal representative communications with whom may be the subject of a claim to professional privilege or, in Scotland, protected from disclosure in legal proceedings on the grounds of confidentiality of communication.