The applicants were out of time for a dispute to be heard under procedures set out in regulations on whether certain documents were subject to legal professional privilege, and the First-tier Tribunal had no jurisdiction to decide the issue in a separate hearing, so the dispute must be decided as part of substantive appeals.

In 2002, the applicants entered into certain tax planning arrangements (Mark II flip-flop). In November 2019, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued the applicants with information notices (under FA 2008, Sch 36). Each notice contained a list of items which referred to one or more documents.