B & D Foulser v HMRC

The case of B & D Foulser v HMRC (TC01484 – 24 October) follows on from the CA decision in Foulser & Foulser v MacDougall ([2007] STC 973) which concerned an attempt to avoid CGT on share disposal by a complex avoidance scheme. The case was remitted 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 tribunal dismissed the application holding that it did not have the jurisdiction to make the order sought. Any allegation that ‘prosecutors...