The Court of Appeal ruled that legal professional privilege (LPP) should not be extended to clients of non-legally qualified accountants or tax advisers.
The issue had arisen in connection with a TMA 1970 s 20 notice served on Prudential in November 2007 in connection with a tax avoidance scheme. The company argued that it was not obliged to disclose any documents in relation to advice on tax matters obtained from counsel foreign lawyers and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Lord Justice Lloyd delivered the judgment. Previous decisions resulted in LPP applying only in relation to lawyers. However counsel for the appellant said that because LPP is a ‘judge-made rule’ it was open to the court to rule that it could apply to advisers other than lawyers.
The judge pointed to the problem of deciding who is an accountant. He...
Please reach out to customer services at +44 (0) 330 161 1234 or 'customer.services@lexisnexis.co.uk' for further assistance.