Cases

HMRC v Banerjee

Held

Dismissing the application:

(1) B had a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of financial and tax affairs; however

(2) The potent principle of open justice would have led to the rejection of a pre-hearing application for anonymity, had one been made; only in truly exceptional circumstances would taxpayer confidentiality prevail over open justice;

(3) The importance of publicity for a High Court judgment on deductibility of expenses reinforced the case against anonymisation;

(4) B's grounds for claiming privacy were not exceptional but weak, as there was nothing inherently sensitive or embarrassing about the information in question;

(5) Although there was no evidence the public hearing had attracted actual publicity, the touchstone was whether it was held in public; (6)

The orders sought would be difficult to police.

Also