CH178240 | Sanctionable conduct by tax advisers: penalty for sanctionable conduct: previous penalties

When calculating the penalty amount, we must consider whether the adviser we are penalising has previously been charged with any sanctionable conduct penalties.

If an adviser has been issued with a sanctionable conduct penalty within the last twenty years, and no more than four years have elapsed between penalties, then the adviser may be liable to a higher penalty:

If the adviser has been issued with multiple penalties within the last twenty years, but the most recent of those penalties was issued more than four years ago, then the penalty count ‘resets’ and previous penalties are disregarded. All previous penalties are disregarded where more than twenty years have elapsed since they were issued.

Examples

1. A tax adviser received a penalty for sanctionable conduct on 2 December 2027. The adviser engaged in sanctionable conduct again on 23 October 2032 and is liable to a penalty. Since the first penalty was issued more than four years ago, it is disregarded for the purposes of calculating the second penalty amount. This means the second penalty amount is up to 70% of the attributable PLR and capped at £1 million.

2. A tax adviser received a penalty for sanctionable conduct on 30 September 2027. The adviser engaged in sanctionable conduct again on 15 October 2028 and is liable to a penalty. Since the first penalty was issued less than four years ago, it is taken into account when calculating the second penalty amount. This means the second penalty amount is up to 85% of the attributable PLR and the cap increases to £5 million.