R (on application of Ingenious Media Holdings PLC and another) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners

Confidential information – Disclosure. The Administrative Court had dismissed the claimants' application for judicial review of the decision of the defendant Revenue and Customs Commissioners' then Permanent Secretary for Tax to disclose certain limited information relating to the claimants during an 'off the record' meeting with two journalists. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimants' appeal. It held, inter alia, that, as to whether the Revenue had breached s 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005, a factually correct disclosure not involving the private affairs of a taxpayer, and which had the effect of raising the total tax revenue or reducing the effect of tax avoidance schemes which the Revenue genuinely considered ineffective, was a disclosure the citizen would expect the Revenue to be free to make.