Legislation – Finance Act 2026

“315Penalties

(1)

A person who fails to comply with a duty imposed by a provision mentioned in the first column of the table is liable to a penalty not exceeding the amount specified in relation to that provision in the second column.

Provision	Maximum penalty amount
Section 308(1) or (3) (promoter’s duty to notify)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if subsection (3) applies, £1 million
Section 309(1) (client’s duty to notify: no UK promoter)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if subsection (3) applies, £1 million
Section 310 (client’s duty to notify: no promoter)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if subsection (3) applies, £1 million
Section 310A (duty to provide further information)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if subsection (3) applies, £1 million
Section 310C (promoter’s duty to update information)	£5,000
Section 311C (duty to provide further information: section 311(3) case)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if subsection (3) applies, £1 million
Section 312(2) (promoter’s duty to notify client of SRN)	£5,000
Section 312ZA(2) (duty to notify client of SRN: section 311(3) case)	£5,000
Section 312A(2) or (2A) (client’s duty to notify other persons of SRN)	£5,000
Section 312B (client’s duty to provide client information to promoter or service provider)	£5,000
Section 313(1) or regulations under section 313(3) (other party’s duty to provide information)	The amount specified in subsection (4)
Section 313ZA (promoter’s or service provider’s duty to provide client information)	£5,000
Section 313ZB (service provider’s duty to provide other party’s information)	£5,000
Section 313ZC (employer’s duty to provide employee information)	£5,000
Section 313A (duty to provide statement on notifiability)	£5,000
Section 313B (duty to provide supporting evidence on notifiability)	£5,000
Section 313C (introducer’s duty to provide other person’s information)	£5,000
Section 316A (duty to provide information in addition to SRN to client or other persons)	£5,000

(2)

The “applicable rate” means—

(a)

£600, or

(b)

where an order has been made under section 306A or 314A (orders about notifiability) in respect of the arrangements or proposal in relation to which the person fails to comply—

(i)

£600 for each day falling before the end of the period of ten days beginning with the day on which the order was made, and

(ii)

£5,000 for each day falling after the end of that period.

(3)

This subsection applies where an authorised officer considers that the amount otherwise specified in relation to the provision is inappropriately low.

(4)

The amount specified for section 313(1) or regulations under section 313(3) is—

(a)

£10,000, if the person has failed to comply with the section or regulations on two or more other occasions during the period of 36 months ending with the date of the current failure,

(b)

£7,500, if the person has failed to comply with the section or regulations on one other occasion during the period of 36 months ending with the date of the current failure, or

(c)

£5,000, in any other case.

(5)

In subsection (1), a reference to a day on which a person fails to comply with a duty is a reference to a day that—

(a)

begins after the day by which the person was required to comply with the duty, and

(b)

ends before the earlier of—

(i)

the day on which the person complies with the duty,

(ii)

the day on which any reference number is allocated to the arrangements or proposed arrangements concerned in the circumstances described in subsection (6), and

(iii)

the day on which a penalty under subsection (1) is imposed in relation to the failure.

(6)

The circumstances are—

(a)

the duty referred to in subsection (5) is a duty imposed by section 308(1) or (3), 309(1) or 310, and

(b)

it is a case within section 311(3).

315AFurther penalties

(1)

If—

(a)

a penalty under section 315 is imposed in relation to a person’s failure to comply with a duty, and

(b)

after the penalty has been imposed, the person continues to fail to comply with the duty,

the person is liable to a further penalty not exceeding the applicable rate (as defined in section 315(2)) for each day on which the failure continues.

(2)

Subsection (1) does not apply to a failure to comply with a duty imposed by section 313(1) or regulations under section 313(3).

315BDetermination of penalties

(1)

A penalty under this Part is to be treated as a penalty under a provision of the Taxes Acts and, accordingly, is a penalty to be determined and imposed by an authorised officer under section 100(1) of TMA 1970.

(2)

In determining an amount of a specified penalty (including considering whether an amount is inappropriately low under section 315(3)), the authorised officer must have regard to all relevant considerations, including—

(a)

the desirability of the penalty being set at a level which appears appropriate for deterring the person, or other persons, from similar failures to comply on future occasions;

(b)

the amount of any fees received, or likely to have been received, by the person in connection with the proposal or arrangements concerned;

(c)

in the case of a person entering into the arrangements, the amount of any advantage gained, or sought to be gained, by that person.

(3)

In this section, a “specified penalty” is a penalty under section 315 that is imposed in relation to a person’s failure to comply with a duty imposed by section 308(1) or (3), 309(1), 310, 310A or 311C.

315CFailure to comply with time limit

A failure to do anything required to be done within a limited period of time does not give rise to liability to a penalty under section 315 or 315A if the person did it within such further time, if any, as an officer of Revenue and Customs or the tribunal may have allowed.

315DOther exemptions from liability to a penalty

(1)

A person is deemed not to have failed to comply with a duty imposed by a provision mentioned in the first column of the table in section 315(1) if the person had a reasonable excuse for the failure and—

(a)

the reasonable excuse continues to apply, or

(b)

the reasonable excuse has ceased to apply, but the person complied with the duty without unreasonable delay after the cessation.

(2)

Where an order is made under section 306A or 314A—

(a)

the order is not evidence that a person either does or does not have a reasonable excuse for non-compliance before the order was made, and

(b)

the person identified in the order as the promoter cannot rely on doubt as to notifiability as a reasonable excuse for a failure to comply with section 308.

(3)

Where a person fails to comply with—

(a)

section 309 and the promoter for the purposes of that section is a monitored promoter, or

(b)

section 310 and the arrangements for the purposes of that section are arrangements of a monitored promoter,

then any legal advice which was given or procured by that monitored promoter and which the person took into account is to be disregarded in determining whether the person has a reasonable excuse for the failure.

(4)

In determining whether or not a person who is a monitored promoter has a reasonable excuse for a failure to do anything required to be done, reliance on legal advice does not constitute a reasonable excuse if either—

(a)

the advice was not based on a full and accurate description of the facts, or

(b)

the conclusions in the advice that the person relied on were unreasonable.

(5)

For the purposes of this section, “monitored promoter” has the meaning given by section 244(5) of FA 2014.

315ERegulations to vary amounts

(1)

The Treasury may by regulations make provision for the purpose of varying any of the amounts specified in section 315 or 315A.

(2)

Regulations under this section—

(a)

must be made by statutory instrument, and

(b)

may not be made unless a draft has been laid before and approved by resolution of the House of Commons.”;

““authorised officer” means an officer of Revenue and Customs authorised by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for the purposes of this Part or, as the case may be, section 100 of TMA 1970;

“Taxes Acts” has the same meaning as in TMA 1970 (see section 118(1) of that Act);”.

“39

(1)

A person who fails to comply with a duty imposed by a provision of Part 1 of this Schedule mentioned in the first column of the table is liable to a penalty not exceeding the amount specified in relation to that provision in the second column.

Provision	Maximum penalty amount
Paragraph 11(1) or 12(1) (promoter’s duty to notify)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if sub-paragraph (3) applies, £1 million
Paragraph 17(2) (client’s duty to notify: no UK promoter)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if sub-paragraph (3) applies, £1 million
Paragraph 18(2) (client’s duty to notify: no promoter)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if sub-paragraph (3) applies, £1 million
Paragraph 19 (duty to provide further information)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if sub-paragraph (3) applies, £1 million
Paragraph 21 (promoter’s duty to update information)	£5,000
Paragraph 22C (duty to provide further information: paragraph 22(3) case)	The applicable rate for each day on which the person fails to comply or, if sub-paragraph (3) applies, £1 million
Paragraph 23(2) (promoter’s duty to notify client of SRN)	£5,000
Paragraph 23A(2) (duty to notify client of SRN: paragraph 22(3) case)	£5,000
Paragraph 24(3) (client’s duty to notify other persons of SRN)	£5,000
Paragraph 25(2) (client’s duty to provide client information to promoter or service provider)	£5,000
Paragraph 26(1) or regulations under paragraph 26(3) (other party’s duty to provide information)	The amount specified in sub-paragraph (4)
Paragraph 27(3) (promoter’s or service provider’s duty to provide client information)	£5,000
Paragraph 28 (service provider’s duty to provide other party’s information)	£5,000
Paragraph 29 (duty to provide statement on notifiability)	£5,000
Paragraph 30 (duty to provide supporting evidence on notifiability)	£5,000
Paragraph 31 (introducer’s duty to provide other person’s information)	£5,000
Paragraph 33 (duty to provide information in addition to SRN to client or other persons)	£5,000

(2)

The “applicable rate” means—

(a)

£600, or

(b)

where an order has been made under paragraph 4 or 5 (orders about notifiability) in respect of the arrangements or proposal in relation to which the person fails to comply—

(i)

£600 for each day falling before the end of the period of eleven days beginning with the day on which the order was made, and

(ii)

£5,000 for each day falling after the end of that period.

(3)

This sub-paragraph applies where an authorised officer considers that the amount otherwise specified in relation to the provision is inappropriately low.

(4)

The amount specified for paragraph 26(1) or regulations under paragraph 26(3) is—

(a)

£10,000, if the person has failed to comply with the paragraph or regulations on two or more other occasions during the period of 36 months ending with the date of the current failure,

(b)

£7,500, if the person has failed to comply with the paragraph or regulations on one other occasion during the period of 36 months ending with the date of the current failure, or

(c)

£5,000, in any other case.

(5)

In sub-paragraph (1), a reference to a day on which a person fails to comply with a duty is a reference to a day that—

(a)

begins after the day by which the person was required to comply with the duty, and

(b)

ends before the earlier of—

(i)

the day on which the person complies with the duty,

(ii)

the day on which any reference number is allocated to the arrangements or proposed arrangements concerned in the circumstances described in sub-paragraph (6), and

(iii)

the day on which a penalty under sub-paragraph (1) is imposed in relation to the failure.

(6)

The circumstances are—

(a)

the duty referred to in sub-paragraph (5) is a duty imposed by paragraph 11(1), 12(1), 17(2) or 18(2), and

(b)

it is a case within paragraph 22(3).

(7)

In this paragraph “authorised officer” means an officer of Revenue and Customs authorised by HMRC for the purposes of this paragraph.

40

(1)

If—

(a)

a penalty under paragraph 39 is imposed in relation to a person’s failure to comply with a duty, and

(b)

after the penalty has been imposed, the person continues to fail to comply with the duty,

the person is liable to a further penalty not exceeding the applicable rate (as defined in paragraph 39(2)) for each day on which the failure continues.

(2)

Sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to a failure to comply with a duty imposed by paragraph 26(1) or regulations under paragraph 26(3).

41

(1)

In assessing the amount of a specified penalty (including considering whether an amount is inappropriately low under paragraph 39(3)), an authorised officer must have regard to all relevant considerations, including—

(a)

the desirability of the penalty being set at a level which appears appropriate for deterring the person, or other persons, from similar failures to comply on future occasions;

(b)

the amount of any fees received, or likely to have been received, by the person in connection with the proposal or arrangements concerned;

(c)

in the case of a person entering into the arrangements, the amount of any advantage gained, or sought to be gained, by that person.

(2)

In this paragraph—

(a)

“authorised officer” means an officer of Revenue and Customs authorised by HMRC for the purposes of this paragraph;

(b)

a “specified penalty” is a penalty under paragraph 39 that is imposed in relation to a person’s failure to comply with a duty imposed by paragraph 11(1), 12(1), 17(2), 18(2), 19 or 22C.

42

(1)

The Treasury may by regulations make provision for the purpose of varying any of the amounts specified in paragraph 39 or 40.

(2)

Regulations under this paragraph may include incidental or transitional provision.”;