DOTAS reporting requirements

There are very strict time limits to the reporting obligations. A report has to be made to HMRC within five days from the date on which the scheme was made available for implementation (or potentially at an even earlier point). This definition will be looked at in more detail later, but for the present it can be taken as the point at which a scheme was first marketed to a client or, if earlier, when implementation actually started. So the reporting obligation will often arise before a client has actually done anything, and will almost always arise before the client has fully implemented a scheme. This also means that disclosures may have to be made even if a scheme is never implemented. In evaluating the statistics for disclosed schemes it is worth bearing this point in mind.

It is important to realise that what has to be reported is the scheme, not the client. Once a scheme has been reported it does not have to be reported again by the same promoter if it is used by another client. The promoter is not required to disclose details of the client when he makes the disclosure but is required to make quarterly returns to HMRC giving details of users of schemes (see 25.XX).

Failure to report in time results in a penalty for each failure. HMRC have said that they will operate the penalty regime on a reasonable basis, so that penalties will not be charged where the promoter has made a reasonable judgement that a report is not due but it subsequently transpires that a disclosure was required. There are further penalties for a failure to notify a scheme if the penalty persists after the Tribunal has imposed an initial penalty. In extreme cases a tribunal can impose a penalty of up to £1 million. The penalty regime is dealt with in more detail here