Section 251 | Power to publish information

(1)An authorised officer may publish information about a tax adviser if—

(a)in consequence of the tax adviser’s behaviour or conduct, HMRC has made a decision to—

(i)refuse to deal with the adviser (whether temporarily or permanently), or

(ii)suspend the adviser’s access to HMRC’s online services for tax agents or tax advisers, and

(b)the officer considers that publication would be in the public interest.

(2)The information that may be published under subsection (1) is—

(a)the tax adviser’s name, including any trading name, previous name or pseudonym;

(b)the postcode of any address used by the tax adviser;

(c)any other information the authorised officer considers appropriate to publish in order to make clear the tax adviser's identity;

(d)details of the decision mentioned in subsection (1)(a) made in respect of the tax adviser, including the reasons why it was made and its effect on the tax adviser.

(3)If, in acting as a tax adviser, an individual works or worked for a person carrying on a business, subsection (2)(c) includes power to publish such information about that person as the authorised officer considers appropriate in order to make clear the individual's identity.

(4)Before publishing information under subsection (1), the authorised officer must—

(a)notify the tax adviser and, in a case within subsection (3), the person mentioned in that subsection that they are considering doing so,

(b)give the tax adviser and (as the case may be) the person a period of at least 30 days, beginning with the date of the notification mentioned in paragraph (a), to make representations about whether the information should be published, and

(c)after considering any such representations, notify the adviser and (as the case may be) the person of the authorised officer’s decision as to whether to publish the information.

(5)Subsection (6) applies if—

(a)information about a tax adviser is published under subsection (1), and

(b)the tax adviser is a body corporate controlled by another person.

(6)An authorised officer may, if they consider that publication would be in the public interest, publish—

(a)the other person’s name, including any trading name, previous name or pseudonym;

(b)the postcode of any address used by the other person;

(c)any other information about the other person that the authorised officer considers appropriate to publish in order to make clear the other person’s identity;

(d)details of the relationship between the tax adviser and the other person.

(7)Before publishing information under subsection (6), the authorised officer must—

(a)notify the tax adviser and the person that they are considering doing so,

(b)give the tax adviser and the person a period of at least 30 days, beginning with the date of the notification mentioned in paragraph (a), to make representations about whether the information should be published, and

(c)after considering any such representations, notify the tax adviser and the person of the authorised officer’s decision as to whether to publish the information.

(8)Information may be published under this section in any manner that the authorised officer considers appropriate.