Section 196 | Penalty for inaccurate information

(1)A recipient of an information notice is liable to a penalty if the recipient—

(a)in purporting to comply with the notice, carelessly or deliberately provides inaccurate information, or

(b)after purporting to comply with the notice—

(i)discovers that, in doing so, they provided inaccurate information, and

(ii)does not take reasonable steps to notify HMRC of that fact.

(2)The maximum penalty under subsection (1) is—

(a)in relation to a notice under section 183 (financial institutions), £3,000 for each inaccuracy, or

(b)otherwise, £20,000 for each inaccuracy.

(3)Before imposing a penalty under this section, an officer of Revenue and Customs must—

(a)notify the recipient of the fact that the officer considers subsection (1) to apply, and

(b)allow the recipient a period of 30 days beginning with the date of notification to make representations to HMRC.

(4)In this section, a reference to carelessness is a reference to a failure to take reasonable care.