Legal professional privilege and tax avoidance disclosure

Article by Philip Baker, CTA QC, of Grays Inn Tax Chambers. This article appeared in the January 2005 issue of Tax Adviser. It must have been anticipated that the introduction of tax avoidance disclosure in this year's Finance Act would raise the issue of legal professional privilege. In the US, where better-conceived tax shelter reporting rules have been in force for a number of years, these rules have given rise to a number of cases concerning privilege from disclosure. The UK rules ensure that they do not infringe LPP by providing in Finance Act 2004 s314 that the TAD scheme will not require any person to disclose any:

'information with respect to which a claim to LPP ... could be maintained in legal proceedings'.

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