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You cannot ask a person to create a document so that you can require them to produce it by an information notice, but you can require a person to provide information.

‘Provide� in this context means “to give someone something that they need�. It indicates the thing in question must reach you rather than simply be made available so you have to go and get it.

‘Information� has, amongst other things, been defined as

• knowledge acquired in any manner, and
• facts about a situation, person, event and so on.

It does not include opinion or speculation.

Example

You want to check whether the market value of an asset used in a person’s tax calculation is accurate. You can ask the person to produce the valuation report document if they have commissioned one. You cannot require them to go and get a professional valuer’s opinion of the asset’s value. You can, however, require them to provide the information that a professional valuer would need to make a reliable valuation.

Depending on the matter under consideration information can include a statement of the reason why something was done, for example an explanation of the purpose of a particular transaction.

‘Providing information� can be answering specific factual questions, but information can also be provided by creating a document that did not previously exist in order to conveniently provide the information required. For example, it can cover computations, calculations, analyses, translations of documents written in a foreign language, and so on.

See CH23360 for guidance on information in electronic format.

FA08/SCH36/PARA7

CEMA79/S118BA