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Neither Mr Tan nor his wife has been informed about the accident by the police.

Is it possible to replace ‘has been informed’ with ‘is informed’? Will the sentence has a different meaning?

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    Possible duplicate of Present perfect vs. present simple
    – Andrew
    Commented Jan 31, 2018 at 16:42
  • No - are informed doesn't work in your context. There's nothing wrong with your have been informed - but for simplicity you might want to consider plain were informed, which is just as good (and easier! :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 31, 2018 at 18:30

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The answer to both of your questions is yes.

In the first case the sentence implies that as part of a continuing event (the accident and its aftermath) the police told the Tans about the accident.

In the second case the sentence could be an example of historic present, a form used sometimes by historians. "In 1952, the King dies. His daughter, who has now become Queen, is informed of his death by ..."

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