Information Commissioner's Office

HM Revenue and Customs

15 June 2015, Central government

The complainant submitted a request to the public authority in relation to the amount of money recovered in 2013/14 by the authority in tax liabilities from an offshore disclosure facility covering the Crown Dependencies. The information held was withheld by the public authority in reliance on the exemption at section 31(1)(d) FOIA.  The Commissioner’s decision is that on a balance of probabilities, the public authority did not hold an estimate of the yield expected specifically from the Crown Dependency Disclosure Facilities (CDDFs). The public authority was not entitled to rely on the exemption at section 31(1)(d) to withhold the yield received from the CDDFs. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the yield received from the CDDFs up to 31 March 2014 for each of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man (“the disputed information”). The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

FOI 31: Upheld