HMRC has various powers to obtain information and documents from various persons for the purposes of checking a taxpayer's 'tax position' or collecting a 'tax debt' of the taxpayer1.
These powers are summarised in A6.610, which also includes the definition of 'tax position' and 'tax debt'.
This article discusses identification information notices, more commonly known as identification notices. These notices are used to obtain the identity of a taxpayer(s) from a third party where HMRC has other identifying information about the taxpayer (eg bank account number only).
This is not the same as identity unknown information notices, which are used to obtain information/documents from third parties in relation to a taxpayer(s), the identity of whom is not known to the HMRC. See A6.613.
Identification notices—overview
With effect from 17 July 2012, an HMRC officer may issue an identification notice to require a third party to identify a taxpayer where HMRC does not known the identity of the taxpayer has other identifying information (eg bank account number)2.
Often this other identifying information has been obtained
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Web page updated on 17 Mar 2025 16:13