CH225610 - How to do a compliance check: information powers: third party notice: partnerships: introduction
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-01)


This page and chapter are under review as the relevant content is also published in the guidance chapters of the Compliance Handbook (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook), within Compliance checks factsheets (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-revenue-and-customs-compliance-checks-factsheets) and in Compliance checks guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmrc-compliance-checks-help-and-support). If you use particular pages regularly, please email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) to let us know the specific content you find useful.

Special rules apply to partnerships and third party notices, see CH23680 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch23680).

The rules are complex; they depend on who receives the notice and whose position is being checked. The rules are summarised in the table at CH225680 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225680).

For completeness, this guidance explains all the rules you must follow when you wish to use third party information powers to check the partnership tax position of one or more partners. You should always refer to the technical guidance so that you are clear about the reasons for the actions you need to take in each situation.
- giving a notice to an external third party to check more than one known partner, see CH225620 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225620)
- giving a notice to an external third party to check one known partner, see CH225630 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225630)
- giving a notice to a partner, whose tax position is not being checked, to check more than one known partner, see CH225640 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225640)
- giving a notice to a partner, whose tax position is not being checked, to check one known partner, see CH225650 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225650)
- giving a notice to a partner whose tax position is being checked, to check more than one other known partner, see CH225660 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225660)
- giving a notice to a partner whose tax position is being checked, to check one other known partner, see CH225670 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225670).
It is possible to give a notice which is both a taxpayer and third party notice (a combined notice), where the information and/or documents sought are reasonably required to check the tax position of both the recipient and another person. This possibility is covered in the table at CH225680 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch225680). SEES Forms and Letters contains a combined notice - IIP22.

Note: Although the notice only goes to the responsible partner, their duty to their partner(s) may mean having to give them a copy or show them. Therefore you should limit the information and documents required to the partnership’s profit or loss only, without covering individual partners’ tax position.

It is important to be quite clear whose tax position you are checking. If the same information is needed to check the tax position of several partners you must consider which safeguards apply and which do not.

Where you do not know the identity of one or more partners you should refer to guidance about identity unknown notices at CH23900 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch23900).