Guidance on Taxpayer Information Notices and Tribunal Approval Process

Revenue Scotland taxpayer information notices

A taxpayer information notice is a formal notice from Revenue Scotland requiring a taxpayer to provide information or documents so it can check that taxpayer’s tax position. It can only be used where the material is reasonably needed for the check and it is reasonable to require that taxpayer to provide it. Tribunal approval is needed for certain older documents, and special rules may apply during reviews or appeals.

• Revenue Scotland may issue a taxpayer notice to obtain information, documents, or both, when checking whether tax has been filed, calculated, or paid correctly.
• The notice is only valid if the material is reasonably required to check the tax position and it is reasonable to require that taxpayer to provide it.
• Tribunal approval may or may not be needed, but it is required if the notice asks for a document whose whole contents originate more than five years before the date of the notice.
• The rules are intended to limit unfair or excessive requests, so relevance, fairness, and proportionality are key.
• If a tribunal-approved notice requires a document to be produced, concealing, destroying, or disposing of that document is a criminal offence.
• Special rules can apply where there is a related review or appeal, so the position may differ from an ordinary tax check.

Scroll down for the full analysis.

Revenue Scotland taxpayer information notices: what they are and when they can be issued

This page explains Revenue Scotland’s power to issue a taxpayer information notice under the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014. In simple terms, this is a formal notice requiring a taxpayer to provide information or produce documents so that Revenue Scotland can check that taxpayer’s tax position. The source material is short, but the practical effect is important: a notice can be compulsory, and in some cases tribunal approval is needed before it can require older documents.

What this rule is about

The rule concerns investigatory powers. Revenue Scotland may need information or documents to check whether a taxpayer has filed, calculated, or paid tax correctly. A taxpayer notice is one of the formal tools it can use.

The power is not unlimited. The source material identifies two conditions that must be met before Revenue Scotland can require information or documents from the taxpayer:

• the information or document must be reasonably required for the purpose of checking the taxpayer’s tax position; and
• it must be reasonable to require that particular taxpayer to provide it.

So there are really two questions: is the material relevant to checking the tax position, and is it fair and proportionate to require this taxpayer to provide it?

What the official source says

The official guidance says Revenue Scotland can give an information notice, called a taxpayer notice, requiring the taxpayer to provide information and/or produce documents where those two reasonableness conditions are met.

The guidance also says that a taxpayer notice may be issued either with or without tribunal approval. But tribunal approval is required if the notice demands production of a document where the whole document originates more than five years before the date of the notice.

The source further states that it is a criminal offence to conceal, destroy, or dispose of a document that a person has been required to produce by an information notice if the giving of that notice was approved by the tribunal.

The source also flags that special rules apply where reviews or appeals are involved, but it does not set those rules out on this page.

What this means in practice

If Revenue Scotland is checking a tax position, it can formally ask the taxpayer for relevant material rather than relying on voluntary cooperation. The notice can require either information, documents, or both.

However, the notice is not meant to be a fishing exercise without limits. The requirement must be tied to checking the tax position, and the demand itself must be reasonable. In practice, that points towards relevance, proportionality, and fairness.

The five-year rule matters because it creates an extra safeguard for older documents. If Revenue Scotland wants a document and the whole of that document originates more than five years before the notice date, it cannot simply require production without tribunal approval.

This does not mean Revenue Scotland can never ask for older material. It means that, for that category of document, an independent tribunal must approve the notice first.

The criminal offence point is also practically important. Where a tribunal-approved notice requires a document to be produced, a person must not conceal, destroy, or dispose of it. That raises the seriousness of compliance once such a notice has been approved and issued.

How to analyse it

If you are trying to understand whether a taxpayer notice is valid or what it requires, the following questions help:

• What tax position is Revenue Scotland checking?
• What information or documents has it asked for?
• Are those items reasonably required for checking that tax position?
• Is it reasonable, in the circumstances, to require this taxpayer to provide them?
• Does the notice ask for a document the whole of which originates more than five years before the date of the notice?
• If so, was tribunal approval obtained?
• Is there a related review or appeal, and if so, do the special rules for notices in that context affect what Revenue Scotland can require?

That framework reflects the source material. It helps separate three issues that are easy to blur together: relevance to the tax check, reasonableness of the demand, and whether tribunal approval is needed because of the age of the documents.

Example

Illustration: Revenue Scotland is checking a taxpayer’s LBTT return for a land transaction completed two years ago. It issues a taxpayer notice asking for the completion statement, correspondence about consideration, and documents showing how the return figures were calculated. On the face of the source material, that is the kind of request that may fall within a taxpayer notice if the material is reasonably required to check the tax position and it is reasonable to require the taxpayer to provide it.

Now change the facts. The notice also requires a document where the whole document originates more than five years before the date of the notice. In that case, tribunal approval would be needed before the notice could validly require production of that older document.

Why this can be difficult in practice

The source material states the legal tests at a high level, but it does not explain in detail what counts as “reasonably required” or when it is “reasonable” to require the taxpayer to provide the material. Those are fact-sensitive judgments.

Difficulty can also arise with document age. The rule is expressed by reference to a document “the whole of which originates more than five years before the date of the notice”. In some cases, it may be straightforward to date a document. In others, especially where documents have been updated, compiled, or recreated, working out whether the whole document originates more than five years earlier may be less obvious.

Another practical complication is that this page only briefly mentions the special rules for reviews and appeals. A reader should not assume that the position during a dispute is identical to the position during an ordinary check, because the source expressly says particular rules apply in that context.

Finally, the criminal offence mentioned in the source is tied to documents required by an information notice that has tribunal approval. The source does not say on this page that every failure to comply with every notice is itself a criminal offence. It makes a narrower point about concealment, destruction, or disposal of documents in the tribunal-approved notice context.

Key takeaways

• A taxpayer notice is a formal Revenue Scotland notice requiring information or documents to check a taxpayer’s tax position.
• Revenue Scotland can only require material that is reasonably required for that check, and only where it is reasonable to require the taxpayer to provide it.
• Tribunal approval is needed if the notice requires a document the whole of which originates more than five years before the notice date.

This page was last updated on 24 March 2026

Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Guidance on Taxpayer Information Notices and Tribunal Approval Process

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