Finance Act 2021

Disclosure of information U.K.

7 (1) HMRC (or anyone acting on their behalf) may, for the purpose mentioned in sub-paragraph (2), disclose to a licensing authority (or anyone acting on their behalf) any confirmation or other information given to HMRC in the course of a tax check. U.K.

(2) The purpose is to enable or assist the licensing authority or HMRC to comply with this Schedule.

(3) A person who receives information as a result of this paragraph—

(a) may use it only for the purpose of complying with this Schedule, and

(b) may not further disclose it without the consent of the HMRC Commissioners (which may be general or specific).

(4) If—

(a) a person discloses information in contravention of sub-paragraph (3)(b), and

(b) the information relates to a person whose identity is specified in, or can be deduced from, the disclosure,

section 19 of CRCA 2005 (offence of wrongful disclosure) applies in relation to that disclosure as it applies in relation to a disclosure in contravention of section 20(9) of that Act.

(5) Nothing in this paragraph authorises a disclosure of information if the disclosure would contravene the data protection legislation or is prohibited by the investigatory powers legislation (but in determining whether a disclosure would do either of those things, the power conferred by sub-paragraph (1) is to be taken into account).

(6) In sub-paragraph (5)—

• “the data protection legislation” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act);

• “the investigatory powers legislation” means Parts 1 to 7 and Chapter 1 of Part 9 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.

(7) Nothing in this section limits the circumstances in which information may be disclosed under section 18(2) of CRCA 2005 or under any other enactment or rule of law.