CH182140 - Dishonest tax agents: conduct notice: what is a conduct notice
Where we determine that an individual who is, or was, a tax agent, has engaged in dishonest conduct, see CH181120, we can issue that person with a ‘conduct notice’.
A conduct notice is the notification of a determination made by a duly authorised officer of HMRC. It must state the reasons why we think the tax agent engaged in dishonest conduct.
The legislation allows HMRC to issue a conduct notice to an ‘individual’ and not just a ‘tax agent’. It is worded in this way because the individual may have been a tax agent at the time of the dishonest conduct, but may be no longer a tax agent when we issue the notice.
The standard of proof for whether a person has acted dishonestly is civil (balance of probabilities) and the burden of proof is on HMRC.