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Search warrant issued by a justice of the peace

The power to search premises in respect of relevant investigations'¹ is conferred by a warrant issued by a Justice of the Peace (JP)² in accordance with the provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, ss 8 and 15³ (PACE 1984). Ministerial undertakings have been given on a number of occasions that the power is to be used only in serious cases of suspected evasion. HMRC appears to regard a case as serious where the actual or potential amount of tax involved exceeds £10,000, and confine applications for warrants to cases where other methods of investigation are either unlikely to succeed or, when tried, have failed.

A search warrant is unlawful unless it is issued and returned under a statutory procedure⁴. Generally, a JP may issue a warrant only where they are satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for belief in respect of specified matters⁵ – in particular that an indictable offence has been committed and that