The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs may disclose information to a person authorised under section 457 for the purpose of facilitating—
the taking of steps by that person to discover whether there are grounds for an application to the court under section 456 (application in respect of defective accounts etc), or
a decision by the authorised person whether to make such an application.
Information disclosed to an authorised person under this section—
may not be used except in or in connection with—
taking steps to discover whether there are grounds for an application to the court under section 456, or
deciding whether or not to make such an application,
or in, or in connection with, proceedings on such an application; and
must not be further disclosed except—
to the person to whom the information relates, or
in, or in connection with, proceedings on any such application to the court.
A person who contravenes subsection (3) commits an offence unless—
he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that the information had been disclosed under this section, or
he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.
A person guilty of an offence under subsection (4) is liable—
on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine (or both);
on summary conviction—
in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both);
in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both).
Where an offence under this section is committed by a body corporate, every officer of the body who is in default also commits the offence. For this purpose—
any person who purports to act as director, manager or secretary of the body is treated as an officer of the body, and
if the body is a company, any shadow director is treated as an officer of the company.