RSTP2002 - Information notices

We expect that the majority of people will want to co-operate with us when we carry out checks (routine or otherwise) in relation to a person’s tax position because they appreciate that co-operation will help the check to be as quick and effective as possible.

We understand that some people, for whatever reasons, may not  co-operate with requests for information or documents. Where a person does not co-operate with  such requests and we do not consider there to be a legitimate reason for failing to do so, we may issue a legal notice requiring the person to provide information and/or produce documents. This notice is called an information notice.

There are four types of information notice:

• taxpayer notice (see RSTP2004);
• third party notice (see RSTP2005);
• identity unknown notice (see RSTP2006); and
• identification notice (see RSTP2007)

Different rules apply to each type of notice but there are some rules (see RSTP2003) and restrictions (see RSTP2009) which apply generally to all information notices.

The guidance is set out as follows: