Legislation – Finance Act 2026

details of the decision mentioned in subsection (1)(a) made in respect of the tax adviser, including the reasons why it was made and its effect on the tax adviser.

(3)

If, in acting as a tax adviser, an individual works or worked for a person carrying on a business, subsection (2)(c) includes power to publish such information about that person as the authorised officer considers appropriate in order to make clear the individual’s identity.

(4)

Before publishing information under subsection (1), the authorised officer must—

(a)

notify the tax adviser and, in a case within subsection (3), the person mentioned in that subsection that they are considering doing so,

(b)

give the tax adviser and (as the case may be) the person a period of at least 30 days, beginning with the date of the notification mentioned in paragraph (a), to make representations about whether the information should be published, and

(c)

after considering any such representations, notify the adviser and (as the case may be) the person of the authorised officer’s decision as to whether to publish the information.

(5)

Subsection (6) applies if—

(a)

information about a tax adviser is published under subsection (1), and

(b)

the tax adviser is a body corporate controlled by another person.

(6)

An authorised officer may, if they consider that publication would be in the public interest, publish—

(a)

the other person’s name, including any trading name, previous name or pseudonym;

(b)

the postcode of any address used by the other person;

(c)

any other information about the other person that the authorised officer considers appropriate to publish in order to make clear the other person’s identity;

(d)

details of the relationship between the tax adviser and the other person.

(7)

Before publishing information under subsection (6), the authorised officer must—

(a)

notify the tax adviser and the person that they are considering doing so,

(b)

give the tax adviser and the person a period of at least 30 days, beginning with the date of the notification mentioned in paragraph (a), to make representations about whether the information should be published, and

(c)

after considering any such representations, notify the tax adviser and the person of the authorised officer’s decision as to whether to publish the information.

(8)

Information may be published under this section in any manner that the authorised officer considers appropriate.

252Power to publish information: change of circumstances

(1)

Where—

(a)

information has been published under section 251 or this section, and

(b)

an authorised officer considers that there has been a material change in the circumstances of the tax adviser or (as the case may be) the person mentioned in section 251(3) or (6),

the authorised officer must publish such information about the change as the authorised officer considers appropriate.

(2)

Before publishing information under this section, the authorised officer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, notify the tax adviser and (as the case may be) the person mentioned in section 251(3) or (6) of the information that is going to be published and of the expected date of publication.

(3)

Where—

(a)

information has been published under section 251 or this section on a government website,

(b)

the information remains accessible on the website, and

(c)

any of the circumstances mentioned in subsection (4) apply,

an authorised officer of HMRC must take steps to remove the information from the website.

(4)

The circumstances are that—

(a)

the decision mentioned in section 251(1)(a) made in respect of the tax adviser in question has expired or been withdrawn by HMRC;

(b)

an authorised officer becomes aware that the tax adviser in question—

(i)

has ceased to be a tax adviser for a period of at least five years, or

(ii)

has died;

(c)

an authorised officer considers that publication of the information is no longer in the public interest.

(5)

Information may be published under this section in any manner that the authorised officer considers appropriate.

253Power to publish information: interpretation and commencement

(1)

In this section and sections 251 and 252—

“authorised officer” means an officer of Revenue and Customs who is, or is a member of a class of officers who are, authorised by the Commissioners for the purposes of sections 251 and 252;

“Commissioners” means the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

“control” has the same meaning as in the Corporation Tax Acts (see section 1124 of CTA 2010);

“HMRC” means His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

“tax adviser” has the same meaning as in Schedule 38 to FA 2012 (see paragraph 2 of that Schedule).

(2)

Sections 251 and 252 come into force on 1 April 2026.