Annex 1: Minor changes in the law Change 54: Transactions in land: power to obtain information: “reasonably requires”: section 832
This change expressly restricts the particulars that an officer of Revenue and Customs may require to be provided, under section 778(1) of ICTA, to those particulars which the officer may reasonably require.
Section 778(1) of ICTA enables the Board or an inspector to require a person to give them such particulars “as the Board or the inspector think necessary” for the purposes of section 776 of that Act (transactions in land).
In section 832, the opportunity has been taken to modernise this language and expressly impose the criterion of reasonableness. This is consistent with the way in which HMRC exercise the power in practice.
This change has no implications for the amount of tax paid, who pays it or when. It affects (in principle but not in practice) only administrative matters.