The Right to Know in Tax Law

Abstract

In Regina v. Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex parte Bishopp and Another, Mr Justice Dyson sitting in the Queens Bench Division held that the High Court should not review informal, unfavourable, pre transaction Revenue tax advice, or the refusal to offer advice, by granting declaratory relief in advance of a transaction. The application for judicial review was made by the accountancy partnerships Price Waterhouse Coopers and Ernst and Young, who had been exploring techniques for minimising their legal liability as partners in respect of unforeseen lawsuits brought against the partnership. The applicants had looked inter alia at Jersey, whose laws are recognised in England, and had asked the English Revenue to provide assurance that a Jersey limited liability partnership is for tax purposes a partnership in the United Kingdom (as opposed to a company). The Revenue refused to provide any such assurance, and the accountancy partnerships applied to the courts for a declaration that United Kingdom partnerships would remain partnerships for the purposes of English tax law in spite of their concurrent status as Jersey limited liability partnerships.