In Mr A v HMRC (TC02217 – 14 September) a well-known broadcaster submitted a tax return claiming that he had made a loss. HMRC discovered that the alleged loss resulted from the broadcaster’s use of a tax avoidance scheme and issued an amendment rejecting the claim. The broadcaster appealed and made a preliminary application for the hearing to be in private and for the decision to be anonymised. The First-tier Tribunal rejected the application. Judge Bishopp observed that ‘there is an obvious public interest in its being clear that the tax system is being operated even-handedly an interest which would be compromised if hearings before this tribunal were in private save in the most compelling of circumstances’.
In Mr A v HMRC (TC02217 – 14 September) a well-known broadcaster submitted a tax return claiming that he had made a loss. HMRC discovered that the alleged loss resulted from the broadcaster’s use of a tax avoidance scheme and issued an amendment rejecting the claim. The broadcaster appealed and made a preliminary application for the hearing to be in private and for the decision to be anonymised. The First-tier Tribunal rejected the application. Judge Bishopp observed that ‘there is an obvious public interest in its being clear that the tax system is being operated even-handedly an interest which would be compromised if hearings before this tribunal were in private save in the most compelling of circumstances’.
