Guidance on Statutory Records Under RSTPA 2014 Regulations

What counts as statutory records for Revenue Scotland investigations

Statutory records are documents or information that a person is legally required to keep and preserve under the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 or related tax rules. Whether something is a statutory record affects when Revenue Scotland can inspect it and when it can require it by notice, with different timing rules for business and non-business records.

• Records only count as statutory records if there is a legal duty to keep and preserve them, and they stop being statutory records once the preservation period ends.
• Business records become statutory records as soon as they are created, so current business records may be inspected or requested by information notice, subject to the usual legal rules.
• Some non-business records do not become statutory records until the end of the relevant accounting period, even if they must be kept under the 2014 Act.
• Before that accounting period ends, those non-business records may not be open to inspection as statutory records, but Revenue Scotland may still be able to obtain them through an information notice.
• The key questions are whether the record must legally be kept, whether it relates to carrying on a business, whether the accounting period has ended, and which power Revenue Scotland is using.
• This issue can be difficult in practice, especially for individuals or mixed-purpose property documents, because a record being relevant to tax does not automatically make it a statutory record.

Scroll down for the full analysis.

What counts as “statutory records” for Revenue Scotland investigatory powers

This page explains what Revenue Scotland means by “statutory records” under the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014. The point matters because statutory records can be inspected or required by notice, and the timing is important. Some records are treated as statutory records as soon as they are created. Others only become statutory records later.

What this rule is about

The term “statutory records” is used in Revenue Scotland’s investigatory powers. In simple terms, these are records that a person is legally required to keep and preserve under the tax legislation. Whether a document falls into that category affects what Revenue Scotland may inspect and when.

The source material is dealing with two linked questions:

• Which documents and information count as statutory records?
• At what point do they become statutory records?

The answer depends in part on whether the records relate to the carrying on of a business, or instead are non-business records.

What the official source says

Revenue Scotland’s guidance says that information or a document forms part of a person’s statutory records if the person is required to keep and preserve it by or under the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014. It stops being part of the statutory records once the preservation period has expired.

The guidance then draws an important distinction.

First, information or documents kept in relation to the carrying on of a business become statutory records when they are created. Revenue Scotland says this means current business records may be inspected, or requested in an information notice, subject to the normal rules governing inspections and information notices.

Second, non-business information or documents that must be kept and preserved under the 2014 Act, but are not also required to be kept under the LBTT or Scottish Landfill Tax legislation, only become statutory records after the end of the accounting period to which they relate.

Revenue Scotland says the practical consequence is that it does not have the right to inspect those non-business records during the accounting period, because they do not fall within the definition of business documents. However, the guidance adds that such records may still be required through an information notice.

What this means in practice

The main practical point is timing.

If a record is a business record, and there is a legal obligation to keep and preserve it, it is treated as a statutory record from the moment it comes into existence. That gives Revenue Scotland a wider ability to look at current records, provided it uses its inspection or information powers lawfully.

If a record is a non-business record, the position is narrower. Even if the law says it must be kept and preserved, it may not count as a statutory record until the relevant accounting period has ended. Until then, Revenue Scotland’s inspection power does not extend to it on the basis that it is a statutory record. That said, the guidance makes clear that an information notice may still be used to require it.

This distinction matters for LBTT in particular where the person involved may not be carrying on a business. For example, an individual involved in a land transaction may hold records that are relevant to tax, but those records may not be business records. In that case, the question is not just whether the records must be kept, but also whether the accounting period has ended and whether Revenue Scotland is seeking to inspect them or require them by notice.

How to analyse it

A sensible way to approach the issue is to ask the following questions.

• Is there a legal requirement to keep and preserve the information or document under the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 or under legislation operating through it?
• If yes, has the preservation period expired? If it has, the material is no longer part of the person’s statutory records.
• Does the material relate to the carrying on of a business? If it does, it becomes a statutory record when created.
• If it is not a business record, is it still a record that must be kept and preserved under the 2014 Act?
• If it is a non-business record, has the end of the relevant accounting period been reached? If not, the guidance says it is not yet a statutory record for inspection purposes.
• What power is Revenue Scotland seeking to use: inspection, or an information notice? The answer may differ depending on the power being used.

The source also points readers to separate guidance on which LBTT and Scottish Landfill Tax records must be kept and for how long. That matters because the definition of statutory records depends on an underlying legal obligation to retain the material.

Example

Illustration: a company carrying on a property business creates transaction records that it is required to keep for tax purposes. On Revenue Scotland’s view, those records become statutory records as soon as they are created. That means they may potentially be inspected while they are still current records, or required by information notice, subject to the ordinary legal rules.

By contrast, suppose an individual holds non-business documents that must be preserved under the tax rules in relation to a transaction, and those documents are not also required to be kept under the LBTT or Scottish Landfill Tax legislation mentioned in the guidance. Revenue Scotland’s position is that those documents only become statutory records after the end of the accounting period to which they relate. Before then, they would not be open to inspection as statutory records, although they might still be requested by information notice.

Why this can be difficult in practice

The difficult part is often classification.

It may not always be obvious whether a document is kept “in relation to the carrying on of a business”. That can be straightforward for company accounting records, but less clear for mixed-purpose documents or records held by individuals involved in property transactions outside a formal business structure.

There is also a difference between a record being relevant to tax and a record being a statutory record. Relevance alone is not enough. The source ties statutory-record status to a legal duty to keep and preserve the material.

A further point is that the guidance distinguishes between inspection powers and information notices. A document may fall outside immediate inspection rights because it is not yet a statutory record, but still be obtainable by information notice. So the practical result depends not just on the nature of the record, but also on the legal route Revenue Scotland is using.

Finally, the source refers specifically to non-business records that are required to be kept under the 2014 Act and not also under the LBTT or Scottish Landfill Tax Acts named in the guidance. That means the precise statutory basis for the record-keeping obligation can matter.

Key takeaways

• A document is a statutory record if there is a legal duty to keep and preserve it, and only for as long as that duty continues.
• Business records become statutory records when they are created.
• Some non-business records only become statutory records after the end of the relevant accounting period, though they may still be required by information notice before then.

This page was last updated on 24 March 2026

Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Guidance on Statutory Records Under RSTPA 2014 Regulations

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