Finance Act 1998

115Information powers where ownership changes

(1)After section 767B of the Taxes Act 1988, there shall be inserted the following section—

“767CChange in company ownership: information

(1)This section applies where it appears to the Board that—

(a)there has been a change in the ownership of a company (“the subject company”); and

(b)in connection with that change a person (“the seller”) may be or become liable to be assessed and charged to corporation tax under section 767A or 767AA.

(2)The Board may by notice require any person to supply to them—

(a)any document in the person’s possession or power which appears to the Board to be relevant for determining any one or more of the matters referred to in subsection (3) below; or

(b)any particulars which appear to them to be so relevant.

(3)Those matters are—

(a)whether the seller is or may become liable as mentioned in subsection (1) above and the extent of the liability or potential liability; and

(b)whether the subject company or an associated company is or may become liable to be assessed to any tax in respect of which the seller is or could become liable as mentioned in subsection (1) above, and the extent of the liability or potential liability of the subject company or associated company.

(4)Without prejudice to the following provisions of this section, the references in subsection (2) above to documents and particulars are references to the documents and particulars specified or described in the notice.

(5)A notice under subsection (2) above must specify the period, which must not be less than 30 days, within which the notice must be complied with.

(6)Any person to whom any documents are supplied under this section may take copies of them or of any extracts from them.

(7)A notice under subsection (2) above shall not oblige a person to supply any documents or particulars relating to the conduct of any pending appeal relating to tax.

(8)In relation to any notice under subsection (2) above—

(a)subsection (4) of section 20B of the [1970 c. 9.] Taxes Management Act 1970 (rules relating to copies of documents) shall apply as it applies in relation to a notice under section 20(1) of that Act; and

(b)subsections (8) to (14) of section 20B of that Act (rules about obtaining documents etc. from professional advisers) shall apply as they apply in relation to a notice under section 20(3) of that Act but as if any reference to an inspector were a reference to the Board;

and subsection (8C) of section 20 of that Act (exclusion of personal records and journalistic material) shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that section.

(9)In this section references, in relation to the subject company and an assessment to tax, to an associated company are references to any company which, at the time of the assessment or at an earlier time after the change in ownership—

(a)has control of the subject company;

(b)is a company of which the subject company has control; or

(c)is a company under the control of the same person or persons as the subject company.

(10)In this section “document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded.”

(2)In the Table in section 98 of the [1970 c. 9.] Taxes Management Act 1970 (penalties in respect of certain information provisions), after the entry in the first column relating to section 765A of the Taxes Act 1988, there shall be inserted the following entry—

(3)The preceding provisions of this section have effect in relation to changes in ownership occurring on or after 2nd July 1997 other than any change occurring in pursuance of a contract entered into before 2nd July 1997.