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After leaving tax professionals across the UK on tenterhooks for two full weeks, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker has delivered his findings in the judicial review concerning Christopher Lunn & Co (CLAC), an accountancy business based in Crowborough, East Sussex.
The judgement was reserved on 3 February, at the end of a two-day case during which CLAC challenged the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs' decision to no longer recognise the firm as a tax agent.
The department’s move followed the launch of a criminal investigation of potential irregularities into the accounts and tax returns of CLAC clients, the majority of whom work in the TV industry.
Mr Justice Parker has said the Revenue was incorrect when it chose to withdraw the business’s agent status – only the second time the department had taken such a major step, and the first in which there had not already been a successful prosecution for a tax offence.
The judge ruled that CLAC should have been given the opportunity to make a representation before the commissioners made their commitment, which has been ordered to be quashed. The matter is to be remitted to the commissioners for reconsideration.
A summary and analysis of the judgment will appear in next week’s issue of Taxation, which will be available online from 23 February.
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