{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2012/schedule-38/paragraph-21",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2012/schedule-38/paragraph-21.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2012/14",
  "legislation_title": "Finance Act 2012",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2012",
  "path": "schedule/38/paragraph/21",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "21",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "(1) A person (“P”) commits an offence if P—\n(a) conceals, destroys or otherwise disposes of a required document, or\n(b) arranges for the concealment, destruction or disposal of a required document.\n(2) A “required document” is a document within sub-paragraph (3) or sub-paragraph (4).\n(3) A document is within this sub-paragraph if at the time when P acts—\n(a) P is required to provide the document by a file access notice, and\n(b) either—\n(i) the notice has not been complied with, or\n(ii) it has been complied with, but P has been notified in writing by an officer of Revenue and Customs that P must continue to preserve the document (and the notification has not been withdrawn).\n(4) A document is within this sub-paragraph if at the time when P acts—\n(a) P is not required to provide the document by a file access notice,\n(b) P has been informed by an officer of Revenue and Customs that P will be or is likely to be so required, and\n(c) no more than 6 months have elapsed since P was, or was last, so informed.\n(5) A person guilty of an offence under this paragraph is liable—\n(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, and\n(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine, or both.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "Sch. 38 Pt. 3 applied (N.I.) by 1992 c. 8, s. 104ZA(2A) (as inserted (1.4.2013) by Finance Act 2012 (c. 14), Sch. 38 para. 57; S.I. 2013/279, art. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C2",
      "text": "Sch. 38 Pt. 3 applied (E.W.S.) by 1992 c. 5, s. 110ZA(2A) (as inserted (1.4.2013) by Finance Act 2012 (c. 14), Sch. 38 para. 56; S.I. 2013/279, art. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Sch. 38 para. 21 in force at 1.4.2013 by S.I. 2013/279, art. 2"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/14/schedule/38/paragraph/21",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:08:44.989153+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}