Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 69D

Penalties under section 69C: officers' liability

Section 69D allows HMRC to hold individual officers of a company personally liable for a portion of a VAT fraud-related penalty imposed on the company under section 69C, where the company's penalised actions were attributable to that officer.

• Where a company incurs a penalty under section 69C and the actions giving rise to it are attributable to an officer, HMRC may issue a "decision notice" requiring that officer to pay up to 100% of the penalty, but must first inform the officer and allow them to make representations
• A decision notice cannot be issued before the company's penalty has been assessed, and must be issued within two years of the relevant denial decision; the officer must pay the specified portion within 30 days of receiving the notice
• HMRC cannot recover more than 100% of the total penalty by issuing decision notices to multiple officers, and a person who has already been convicted of a criminal offence in relation to the same conduct is not liable under this section
• "Company" means a body corporate or unincorporated association (excluding partnerships, local authorities and local authority associations), and "officer" means a director, manager, secretary or, for limited liability partnerships, a member — and in other cases includes anyone managing or purporting to manage the company's affairs