Jersey: Volaw Trust & Corporate Services Limited And Mr Berge Gerdt Larsen, v The Office Of The Comptroller Of Taxes [2013] JCA 239

This was an appeal to the Court of Appeal from the decision of the Royal Court of Jersey, by which the Royal Court dismissed an appeal brought under Article 14(1)(c) of the Taxation (Exchange of Information with Third Countries) (Jersey) Regulations 2008 (the “Regulations”) and upheld the decision of the Comptroller of Taxes (the “Comptroller”) to issue a notice dated 28 May 2012 (the “Notice”) on Volaw Trust & Corporate Services Limited (“Volaw”). The Court of Appeal recognised that “underlying the dispute is the tension between the private interest in commercial confidentiality and the public interest in international co-operation in the investigation of potential tax evasion”.

Facts

The Notice was issued in response to a request for information from the Norwegian Tax Authority (the “NTA“) pursuant to an agreement between Jersey and Norway for the exchange of information relating to tax matters, which came into force on 7 October.

Credit: Mondaq