LTT: limits on Welsh Revenue Authority information notices
Limits on WRA information notices
WRA technical guidance says that information notices have important limits. The WRA cannot simply demand every record that may be relevant to an LTT check.
- Older documents normally need tribunal approval.
- You only need to provide documents you hold or control.
- Protected material and open tax processes can restrict a request.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
LTT: limits on Welsh Revenue Authority information notices
An information notice does not give the Welsh Revenue Authority, or WRA, unlimited access to your records. For Land Transaction Tax, Wales’s stamp duty tax, the WRA technical guidance describes important limits on what it can ask for, how old records can be, and when it must use another route.
What this rule is about
The WRA uses information notices to ask people for information or documents when it checks a tax position. Such a check might concern an LTT purchase, relief claimed on a return, or another devolved Welsh tax for which the WRA needs information.
But the power has boundaries. Other limits can block a notice. This happens when an enquiry, review or appeal is already the proper process.
What the official source says
The WRA’s technical guidance sets out several general restrictions. A notice cannot require everything that might help the WRA. The request must stay within these limits.
- Unless the tribunal approves otherwise, the WRA will normally be unable to demand a document first created more than six years before the notice date.
- The WRA can make that request if it has tribunal approval.
- WRA notices lapse four years after death.
- Provide only documents you have or can obtain through your power or control.
- Where an ongoing review or appeal already concerns material relating to any tax, the WRA cannot request that material.
- This also applies when HMRC reviews a non-Welsh tax, including income tax.
- The WRA cannot require journalistic material.
- Personal records, including medical records, and the personal information they contain are also outside what the WRA can require.
What this means in practice
The key question is not simply, “Has the WRA asked for it?” You should also ask whether the type of request fits the limits above. A notice may cover some documents but not others.
For example, the guidance says the WRA should use an enquiry into a return if it wants to check that return. Rather than issue a taxpayer notice instead, it should normally use the enquiry route for that same transaction or accounting period.
- Check the notice date against the date of every document requested.
- Separate documents you hold from documents that someone else holds.
- Identify any open review, appeal or HMRC enquiry that covers the same material.
- Keep the tax return and any WRA enquiry notice together.
- Flag medical, personal and journalism-related records before you send material.
- Do not assume that a request overrides confidential legal advice.
How to analyse it
Start with the exact request. Then work through the limits one by one. Small details matter, especially dates and the reason the WRA gives for asking.
- Read what information or document the notice asks you to provide.
- Check whether you hold it or can obtain it.
- Work out when the whole document first came into existence.
- Check whether more than six years had passed when the WRA gave the notice.
- Ask whether the notice has tribunal approval for an older document.
- Check if the taxpayer has died. If so, record the date of death.
- Look for an ongoing tax review, appeal or enquiry involving the same information.
- Check whether a return already covers the transaction or accounting period.
- Consider whether legal privilege or another protected category applies.
Example
Rhodri receives an information notice on 1 July. It asks for a file that first came into existence more than six years earlier. Without tribunal approval, the WRA’s guidance makes clear that the notice cannot require Rhodri to provide that file. If Rhodri does not hold the file and cannot obtain it, the guidance says he does not have to produce it.
Now change one fact. The WRA has already opened an enquiry into Rhodri’s LTT return for the same purchase. The guidance says a taxpayer notice can form part of that open enquiry. The existence of a return does not stop the WRA from conducting its enquiry.
Why this can be difficult in practice
You cannot simply ignore a notice. The document, tax issue, dates and stage of the WRA’s work all affect the limits.
This is the part people can miss: a return and an enquiry are different things. The guidance says the WRA should open an enquiry to check a submitted return, but it may also use a notice during that enquiry.
- A file may contain both protected and unprotected material.
- A document may look old but include newer material or have a later origin.
- “In your power” can require careful checking of records you can obtain.
- An HMRC enquiry may overlap with an LTT issue without covering exactly the same information.
- Legal privilege depends on the nature and purpose of the communication.
- If people disagree about privilege, the guidance says the tribunal decides the point.
Key takeaways
- The WRA cannot use an information notice without limits.
- Dates, control of documents and open tax processes can change the answer.
- Personal records, journalism and confidential legal advice need special care.
Technical analysis
For advisers, and for anyone who wants to check the law behind this page. You do not need this section to understand the guidance above.
Official guidance
The pages below are the Welsh Revenue Authority’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how the Welsh Revenue Authority reads the legislation, and it is not binding on you, on a tribunal or on a court. Where guidance and the legislation differ, the legislation wins. the Welsh Revenue Authority can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
- WRA technical guidance TCMA/9110 — WRA guidance on general information notice restrictions
Where this is not settled
- This page relies on WRA technical guidance. The relevant current statutory wording and any later changes need checking before relying on the guidance for a live case.
- The mounted statutory library covers the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017, not the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 provisions discussed here.
Evidence you would need
This kind of case is decided on the facts of the individual property. These are the records that usually settle it, and the ones an adviser would ask you for.
- the date on the information notice
- the date and origin of each requested document
- proof of who holds or controls the document
- details of any open review, appeal or tax enquiry
- the relevant tax return, enquiry notice, assessment or determination
- evidence that material contains legal advice, personal records or journalistic material
Explore this with an AI
Readers often want to test their own situation. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It hands the model the actual legislation for this page rather than letting it answer from memory, and tells it to be explicit about what is uncertain. What comes back is information, not advice – check it against the links above.
I am researching Land Transaction Tax (LTT), the tax on property in Wales. It replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales on 1 April 2018, and SDLT does not apply in Wales. MY QUESTION LTT: limits on Welsh Revenue Authority information notices [Replace this with your own situation: what you are buying, the price, the dates, who the buyer is, and what you plan to do with the property.] Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/tax-collection-and-management-wales-act-2016-investigative-powers-technical-guidance#6699 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from the Welsh Revenue Authority is its view of the law, not the law, and does not bind a tribunal or a court. 2. Tell me what the rule actually requires, in plain English. 3. Tell me which facts decide the answer, and which facts would change it. 4. Tell me what evidence I would need to support the position. 5. Be explicit about anything unsettled or fact-sensitive. Do not guess. 6. Your training data has a cutoff and SDLT rates and reliefs change at fiscal events. Say so if you are not sure the law is current. POINTS ALREADY KNOWN TO BE UNCERTAIN ON THIS TOPIC - This page relies on WRA technical guidance. The relevant current statutory wording and any later changes need checking before relying on the guidance for a live case. - The mounted statutory library covers the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017, not the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 provisions discussed here. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 as it stood on 2025-11-17. The law may have changed since, and the rules that apply are those in force on the date of your transaction. The official guidance this page is based on is here.
This page was last updated on 3 September 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: LTT: limits on Welsh Revenue Authority information notices
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