Guidance on Issuing Identification Notices for Unknown Taxpayer Information

Revenue Scotland identification notices for unknown taxpayers

An identification notice lets Revenue Scotland ask a third party for limited details to identify a taxpayer whose identity is not yet known. It can only be used with tribunal approval, only if strict legal conditions are met, and only for basic identifying information such as a name, last known address and, for an individual, date of birth.

• It is a narrow information power used to identify an unknown taxpayer, not to obtain documents or wider evidence about tax liability.
• Tribunal approval is required before the notice can be issued, providing an independent safeguard against overly broad or speculative requests.
• Revenue Scotland must show the information is reasonably needed to check a tax position and that it already holds data from which the taxpayer could be identified.
• The recipient must be someone Revenue Scotland reasonably believes can identify the taxpayer from that data and who obtained the identifying information in the course of business.
• The notice should not be used if Revenue Scotland could readily identify the taxpayer by other means from information it already holds.
• The legal basis is section 130 of the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014, which sets the limits of the power.

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Revenue Scotland identification notices: when information can be required to identify an unknown taxpayer

This page explains what an identification notice is under the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014, and when Revenue Scotland can use one. The notice is designed for a specific problem: Revenue Scotland believes there may be a taxpayer whose tax position needs checking, but does not yet know who that person is. In that situation, it may ask someone else for limited identifying details, but only with tribunal approval and only if strict conditions are met.

What this rule is about

An identification notice is a type of information notice. It is not a general power to demand documents or broad background material. Its purpose is narrower. It allows Revenue Scotland to require a person to provide identifying details about another person, or a class of persons, whose identity is not yet known.

The official guidance says the “relevant information” is limited to identifying details of the taxpayer being sought. That means the taxpayer’s name, last known address and, if the taxpayer is an individual, date of birth. It does not extend to documents.

This matters because the power sits at an early stage in an enquiry or compliance check. Revenue Scotland may already hold some data that points towards a person, but not enough to identify them directly. An identification notice is intended to bridge that gap.

What the official source says

According to the guidance, Revenue Scotland may give an identification notice to a person requiring them to provide relevant information about another person or class of persons whose identity is unknown.

However, the notice cannot simply be issued on Revenue Scotland’s own decision. Tribunal approval is required first. The tribunal may only approve the notice if it is satisfied that four conditions are met.

Condition A is that the information is reasonably required for the purpose of checking the tax position of the taxpayer.

Condition B is that Revenue Scotland does not know the taxpayer’s identity, but does hold information from which the identity can be ascertained. The guidance gives the example of holding a credit card number, where the card issuer could provide the identifying details.

Condition C is that Revenue Scotland has reason to believe both that:

• the recipient of the notice will be able to ascertain the taxpayer’s identity from the information Revenue Scotland holds, and
• the recipient obtained the relevant information about the taxpayer in the course of carrying on a business.

Condition D is that the taxpayer’s identity cannot readily be ascertained by other means from information already held by Revenue Scotland.

The source cited is section 130 of the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014.

What this means in practice

In practical terms, this power is aimed at third parties who hold identifying data as part of their business activities. A bank, card issuer, platform operator, agent, or similar business may be able to match information already held by Revenue Scotland to a real person.

The notice is not supposed to be used where Revenue Scotland could easily identify the taxpayer itself from what it already has. Nor is it supposed to be used to gather wider evidence about liability. The focus is on identification only.

The requirement for tribunal approval is important. It means an independent body must be satisfied that the statutory conditions are met before the notice can be given. That provides a safeguard against speculative or unnecessarily wide requests.

For the person receiving the notice, a key practical point is that the obligation is limited to the identifying information covered by the legislation. The guidance expressly says this does not include documents.

The guidance also notes that special rules apply to reviews and appeals concerning information notices. It points readers to separate guidance on that topic.

How to analyse it

If you are trying to work out whether an identification notice is valid or how it operates, the most useful approach is to test it against the statutory conditions one by one.

• What tax check is Revenue Scotland trying to carry out? The information must be reasonably required for checking the taxpayer’s tax position.
• Does Revenue Scotland genuinely not know who the taxpayer is? This power is for unknown taxpayers, not known taxpayers.
• What information does Revenue Scotland already hold? There must be existing information from which the identity can be ascertained.
• Why is the notice being sent to this particular person? Revenue Scotland must have reason to believe that this person can identify the taxpayer from the information held.
• Was the relevant identifying information obtained in the course of carrying on a business? That is part of condition C.
• Could Revenue Scotland readily identify the taxpayer by some other means from the information it already holds? If so, condition D may not be met.
• Is the notice confined to relevant identifying information only? It should not stray into asking for documents or broader evidence.
• Has tribunal approval been obtained? Without that, the notice cannot validly be given.

This framework helps distinguish a properly targeted identification notice from a broader information-gathering exercise.

Example

Suppose Revenue Scotland is checking whether tax may be due in relation to a land transaction, but the records it holds only show a payment reference or account identifier and not the taxpayer’s name. It believes a financial business can match that identifier to a customer because the business collected the information in the course of its trade.

Revenue Scotland could ask the tribunal to approve an identification notice requiring that business to provide the customer’s name, last known address, and date of birth if the customer is an individual. If the tribunal is satisfied that the statutory conditions are met, the notice may be issued. It would not, on the guidance given here, be a notice for copies of account documents or transaction files.

Why this can be difficult in practice

The main difficulties are usually around the statutory conditions rather than the basic idea of the notice.

First, the phrase “reasonably required” can be fact-sensitive. Revenue Scotland must be checking a tax position, and the identifying information must be reasonably needed for that purpose. That may involve judgement about necessity and scope.

Second, there may be arguments about whether Revenue Scotland truly does not know the taxpayer’s identity, or whether it could readily work it out from material already held. Condition B and condition D are closely linked, and the dividing line may not always be obvious.

Third, condition C requires reason to believe that the recipient can identify the taxpayer from the information Revenue Scotland holds. That means the link between the data held and the recipient’s systems or records matters. If that link is weak, approval may be harder to justify.

Fourth, the guidance says the information must have been obtained in the course of carrying on a business. Whether that is satisfied may depend on the recipient’s role and how the information was originally collected.

Finally, because this page is guidance rather than the legislation itself, the legal starting point remains section 130 of the 2014 Act. The guidance is useful for understanding Revenue Scotland’s approach, but the statute governs the actual limits of the power.

Key takeaways

• An identification notice is a limited power to obtain identifying details of an unknown taxpayer, not a general power to demand documents.
• Revenue Scotland needs tribunal approval, and the tribunal must be satisfied that all four statutory conditions are met.
• The key questions are whether the identity is genuinely unknown, whether the recipient can identify the taxpayer from information already held, and whether the taxpayer could readily be identified by other means.

This page was last updated on 24 March 2026

Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Guidance on Issuing Identification Notices for Unknown Taxpayer Information

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