Schedule 36 Notice Withdrawn — Enquiry Prevented

 An IT consultant was issued with a formal Schedule 36 information notice demanding detailed financial records, with thin justification. The tone implied wider suspicions.

The client’s professional advisor referred them to us immediately. We:

• Reviewed the legal validity of the notice, identifying clear overreach.

• Detected indicators of a speculative (“fishing”) enquiry.

• Drafted a formal response limiting disclosure and demanding clarification of purpose.

We challenged the scope and forced HMRC to withdraw the notice entirely. No data was handed over and no enquiry followed

“It felt like I was being accused of something serious. Tesheen explained exactly what HMRC could and couldn’t do, which really put my mind at ease.”
— IT Consultant, (Midlands)

Signant Tax Insight: HMRC doesn’t always stay within scope. Knowing how to challenge an information notice can stop an enquiry before it starts.