Can I refuse to give HMRC information?

Most compliance checks start with an informal request by letter or phone, asking you to send records or explanations voluntarily. You can query these, ask why something is needed, or negotiate what's provided, and there's no direct statutory penalty for declining an informal request outright.

If you don't cooperate informally, HMRC's next step is often a formal Schedule 36 information notice, which has real teeth. It sets out precisely what's required and by when, and carries fixed and daily penalties for non-compliance.

Ignoring a Schedule 36 notice, or failing to comply within the stated period, exposes you to an initial penalty, followed by daily penalties if the failure continues, and potentially a further tax-geared penalty in serious cases. These penalties apply regardless of whether HMRC's underlying enquiry ultimately finds anything wrong.

Refusing to engage also tends to harden HMRC's approach. A caseworker who feels stonewalled is more likely to escalate, extend the scope of the check, or draw adverse inferences when nothing else contradicts them.

Yes, and this is usually the better route. Some Schedule 36 notices carry a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal within 30 days, particularly where you believe the information isn't reasonably required or the notice is disproportionate. Notices approved in advance by the tribunal generally can't be appealed on the same grounds, since a tribunal has already tested them.

Even without a formal appeal, you can write to HMRC asking it to narrow or withdraw parts of a notice, explaining specifically why certain documents aren't relevant or don't exist. A reasoned, written pushback is treated very differently from silence.

Legal advice covered by legal professional privilege is protected, as are certain personal records unrelated to your tax position. Journalistic material and some third-party personal data also sit outside the ordinary scope of a Schedule 36 notice.

Beyond these narrow categories, the test is whether the document or information is 'reasonably required' to check your tax position; a notice asking for something with no clear tax relevance can be challenged on that basis alone.

If you can't meet the deadline for genuine reasons, such as records being held by a third party, illness, or a fire or IT failure destroying files, this can amount to a reasonable excuse and may cancel a penalty. What doesn't usually count is simply forgetting, being busy, or disagreeing with the notice in principle.

The safest approach is always to tell HMRC before the deadline passes, in writing, explaining the difficulty and proposing a revised date.

Set out clearly, item by item, what you're providing and what you're querying, rather than refusing the whole notice. Partial compliance combined with a reasoned objection to specific items is far more defensible than blanket refusal.

Getting an accountant to review the notice before you reply is worthwhile even for a single formal notice, since the wording of your response can affect whether HMRC treats a later dispute as a genuine disagreement or as obstruction.