#2026/570Rules for Declarations Using Legal Privilege in Tax Avoidance Scheme Publications
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
These regulations set the information lawyers must provide when they use legally privileged communications to support representations linked to HMRC’s publication of information about tax avoidance schemes. The declaration must name the relevant lawyers, give their addresses and regulator details, identify the tax arrangements and facts being supported, and explain whether the privileged material alone proves the point or whether other information is also being used. The practical effect is narrow but important for lawyers and tax advisers involved in disputed tax avoidance scheme publications. A declaration must be signed, dated, and sent to HMRC no later than the representations it supports, so advisers need to prepare the privilege declaration at the same time as the main response.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- Sets mandatory contents for declarations relying on legally privileged communications in tax avoidance scheme publication cases
- Requires identification of relevant lawyers, regulators, arrangements, facts, and supporting information
- Requires the declaration to be provided to HMRC no later than the related representations
Obligations
What this law requires
A lawyer making a declaration under section 209 of the Finance Act 2026 must include the name, home address and practising address of the lawyer who intends to make the representations, the lawyer making the declaration if different, and each lawyer whose privileged communications would otherwise be relied on to establish that the representations are true.
For each lawyer named in the declaration, the declaration must state the name of each body regulating that lawyer’s professional conduct and, where the regulator issues one, the lawyer’s identifying number.
The declaration must identify the tax arrangements to which the representations relate.
The declaration must identify each fact stated in the representations to which the declaration relates.
The declaration must state whether the privileged communications alone are sufficient, on the balance of probabilities, to demonstrate that the representations are true, or whether the privileged communications together with other information are sufficient.