Scope of digital information expanded… UK Finance Bill also covers virtual asset companies for notification

The UK government’s 2026–27 Finance Bill, introduced on 3 March, adds cryptoasset service providers to the list of financial institutions subject to tax authority information notices under new clause 232, while clause 231 broadens the scope of “digital information” by renaming section 114 of the Finance Act 2008 from “computer records” to “digital information” and extending it beyond computers and related devices to a wider set of “things.” The two provisions sit in the same bill but address separate matters, with the crypto notice regime accompanied by annual reporting requirements. The change matters because it formally pulls virtual asset firms into HM Revenue & Customs’ information-gathering perimeter, potentially widening the data the tax authority can request for tax calculations. Whether AI conversation records used in tax computations fall within scope remains an interpretive question, since the bill does not name them explicitly. What to watch next is how HMRC interprets “digital information” in guidance and whether AI-generated records are treated as notifiable.