B & D Foulser v HMRC

The case of B & D Foulser v HMRC (Upper Tribunal – 25 January) follows on from the CA decision in Foulser & Foulser v MacDougall (2007 STC 973) which concerned an attempt to avoid CGT on a share disposal by a complex avoidance scheme (which was implemented in 1997/98). The CA had remitted the case to the First-tier Tribunal to consider the amount of the assessment. After the beginning of the hearing the appellants lodged an application that the tribunal should decline to admit further evidence from HMRC since their tax adviser had been arrested on suspicion of cheating the public revenue and false accounting and following his arrest HMRC had obtained information relating to their tax affairs which they considered to be legally privileged. The First-tier Tribunal dismissed the application holding that it did not have the jurisdiction to make the order...