Section 137 — Restriction on disclosure of HMRC information
Extent: E+W+S+N.I.
This version in force from 2026-04-07
Snapshot: 2026-08-24
Reproduced from legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Amendments made after 2026-08-24 may not be reflected — always check the official text .
(1) HMRC information may not be disclosed by an enforcing authority without authorisation from the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“the Commissioners”).
(2) If an enforcing authority has disclosed HMRC information to a person, that person may not further disclose that information without authorisation from the Commissioners.
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to national minimum wage information.
(4) If a person contravenes subsection (1) or (2) by disclosing revenue and customs information relating to a person whose identity—
(a) is specified in the disclosure, or
(b) can be deduced from it,
section 19 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (wrongful disclosure) applies in relation to that disclosure as it applies in relation to a disclosure of such information in contravention of section 20(9) of that Act.
(5) In this section— “enforcing authority” has the same meaning as in section 135; “HMRC information” means information disclosed to an enforcing authority under section 135 by the Commissioners or a person acting on behalf of the Commissioners; “national minimum wage information” means information obtained by an enforcing authority for the purposes of enforcing any provision of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998; “revenue and customs information relating to a person” has the meaning given by section 19(2) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.