A taxpayer’s successful challenge before the tribunals to the disclosure of certain documents to another taxpayer was overturned by the Court of Appeal, but other documents were covered by taxpayer confidentiality.  

The second appellant (PB) challenged an Upper Tribunal (UT) determination that he was not entitled to see certain documents in the possession of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The documents arose out of HMRC’s investigation into the tax affairs of another taxpayer (MM), the first named in the appeal). MM’s objection to the disclosure of at least some of those documents was successful in the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) and UT. The issue for the Court of Appeal was whether MM’s objections should be upheld. 

The court considered HMRC’s statutory powers under CRCA 2005, and the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009, SI 2009/273. The issues for the court included the nature