Information Commissioner's Office

HM Revenue and Customs

16 November 2016, Central government

The complainant submitted a request to the public authority for information held in respect of a consultation that the authority had undertaken in relation to the introduction of legislation aimed at arrangements which allowed some employees to give up some of their taxable salary in return for tax free expenses. In the government’s view, such arrangements were not within the spirit of the relevant rules and were providing a competitive advantage for employers by reducing their tax and national insurance liability. The Commissioner concluded that the public authority was not entitled to withhold all of the information held within the scope of the request on the basis of the exemption contained at section 35(1) FOIA. She also concluded the public authority was entitled to withhold some of the information in scope on the basis of the exemptions contained at sections 31(1)(1)(d) and 40(2) FOIA. The Commissioner therefore ordered the public authority to disclose all of the information in scope save the information withheld on the basis of sections 31(1)(1)(d) and 40(2).

FOI 31: Not upheld FOI 35: Upheld FOI 40: Not upheld