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Comment: Accountants get their day in Court
Prudential has been granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal decision that tax advice from its accountants, PWC, did not qualify for legal professional privilege.
This is an important case. Even if Prudential are not ultimately successful on the basis of current law, the accounting profession must be hoping that the judgments of the Supreme Court provide sufficient ammunition for them to argue for some form of statutory privilege. On the other hand, we can expect HMRC to fight this case tooth and nail. A decision in favour of Prudential could drive a coach and horses through the disclosure of tax avoidance scheme (DOTAS) rules. For the legal profession, the real concern is that the case could result in a damaging recast of the law on legal professional privilege which may have repercussions well beyond the area of tax avoidance schemes.
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19 April 2011
Author: Tax team
