On 13 October the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the case of R (Prudential plc) v Special Commissioner for Income Tax.
The case
This was an appeal from a judgment of Charles J in the High Court in which he had refused to overturn an order of the Special Commissioner requiring Prudential to disclose advice given by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on a tax avoidance scheme. Prudential argued that PwC’s advice should be protected from disclosure by legal professional privilege.
In the Court of Appeal arguments were put not only by the parties to the dispute Prudential and HMRC but also by various representative bodies who intervened in the case: the Institute of Chartered Accountants The Bar Council and The Law Society.
The Court of Appeal unanimously rejected Prudential’s appeal. The only reasoned judgment was given by Lloyd LJ. In his view ...
