No justification for disclosure

Duty of confidentiality owed by HMRC to taxpayers

In July 2012 Dave Hartnett then HMRC permanent secretary for tax met two reporters from The Times. He believed he was off the record and claimed a financial services provider had marketed avoidance schemes. The newspaper published the allegations.

The company sought judicial review on the ground that the department had breached Revenue and Customs Act 2005  s 18 (confidentiality). The application was dismissed by the High Court and Court of Appeal.

In the Supreme Court Lord Toulson said the case should be approached from the perspective of the common law of confidentiality. Under this law it was a well-established principle that when information of a personal or confidential nature is obtained ‘in the exercise of a legal power or in furtherance of a public duty the recipient will in general owe a duty to the person...