HMRC Production Orders have changed. Maria Piggin explains how
Prior to the changes effected by the Finance Act 2007, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was required to use s 20BA of the Taxes Management Act 1970 (TMA 1970) for suspected serious fraud offences involving direct tax and para 11 of Sch 11 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994) for offences in connection with VAT, when applying for Production Orders.
Recent changes
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE 1984) (Application to Revenue and Customs) Order 2007enacted changes under the Finance Act 2007 which aligned HMRC’s criminal investigation powers with those of other investigating authorities. Applications by HMRC for the production of “special procedure material” are now required to be made to a circuit judge under PACE 1984, Sch 1, para 4.
PACE 1984, Sch 1 contains a broad judicial discretion at para 16 to award costs. It states: “The costs of any application under this Schedule and of anything done or to be done in pursuance of an order made under it shall be in the discretion
