M Ashley v HMRC

In M Ashley v HMRC [2025] EWHC 134 (KB) (24 January) the High Court (HC) considered a claim that HMRC had breached the subject access rights of the claimant under UK GDPR after they sought access by way of a subject access request (SAR) to personal data processed by HMRC in connection with an enquiry into a tax return conducted by the Wealthy and Mid-Size Business Compliance (WMBC) department. The High Court ultimately concluded that HMRC would need to reconsider their response to the SAR and anticipated that further data would need to be disclosed.  

The underlying enquiry related to disposals of properties by the claimant to special purpose companies owned by a company of which he was an employee. HMRC issued closure notices including a charge to tax on the basis that the disposals...