Reviewing our CTA qualification to ensure it remains relevant. That involves listening to a range of different stakeholders includers employers, Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), Gen Z representatives and students. We’re also busy with technical opinions and representations for the government’s Budget at the end of October.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
That generalists have as much to offer as specialists. I decided after my law degree that I wouldn’t continue along the path to qualify as a lawyer and instead chose an alternative, second degree (IT Masters) and career choices which were often outside of my knowledge and experience. Learning ‘agility’, versatility and problem solving are as equally valued by me as technical knowledge. It’s finding the right blend of both and knowing that we don’t all need to find comfort in having a ‘label’.
If you could make one change tax, what would it be?
We need to get the R&D tax credits process working effectively. Error and fraud need to be tackled and unscrupulous agents removed from the market, but HMRC’s ‘volume compliance’ approach is causing problems for legitimate claimants caught in the cross-fire. While we welcome the proposal to create an ‘expert advisory panel’ and the ongoing engagement with HMRC on this subject, there needs to be a clearer plan and more done to ensure that the relief achieves its purpose of supporting innovation.
The previous government consulted on improving standards in the tax advice market. What’s your view on how standards should be improved?
The consultation laid out three options. If we move to regulation, our preference is option one – that all tax advisers should be members of a recognised professional body, building on the framework already in place to hold members to high standards, such as the PCRT (Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation). And HMRC must play their part. They hold more and better data than professional bodies, which if shared, would enable us to understand what HMRC is seeing as the harms, so that behaviours can be targeted appropriately and standards reinforced as necessary.
The CIOT has raised concerns over HMRC service standards. The new government has committed to additional HMRC resource. Will that be enough and how else can HMRC standards be improved?
Resourcing is certainly part of what is needed to improve HMRC performance. It is hard to maintain services, let alone make improvements, when your customer service budget is being cut by more than £60m, as happened this year (the Conservative government committed an extra £51m, but HMRC was being expected to deliver efficiency savings of at least £116m). Ultimately, HMRC are right to focus on the part that digital technology can play in enabling taxpayers to better self-serve. But this shift has to be a natural one, with people choosing to use digital services because they are better than the alternatives, rather than being forced into a digital system that does not yet provide the services, support and reassurance that people need. And in the interim, everyone needs to be able to access the support they need.
Where do you see the CIOT in ten years’ time?
Thriving! We’ll be over 100 years old, continuing to offer the most recognised and coveted chartered tax qualification which remains relevant to members and their clients in a more digital environment where tax is more readily understood, simplified and accessible.
And finally, you might not know this about me but...
One of my main passions is music. I played several instruments (fife, drum) in a Guide and Scout marching band for about ten years. These days I dabble with my saxophone and attend as many concerts as I can, most recently Pink in Glasgow.
Reviewing our CTA qualification to ensure it remains relevant. That involves listening to a range of different stakeholders includers employers, Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), Gen Z representatives and students. We’re also busy with technical opinions and representations for the government’s Budget at the end of October.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
That generalists have as much to offer as specialists. I decided after my law degree that I wouldn’t continue along the path to qualify as a lawyer and instead chose an alternative, second degree (IT Masters) and career choices which were often outside of my knowledge and experience. Learning ‘agility’, versatility and problem solving are as equally valued by me as technical knowledge. It’s finding the right blend of both and knowing that we don’t all need to find comfort in having a ‘label’.
If you could make one change tax, what would it be?
We need to get the R&D tax credits process working effectively. Error and fraud need to be tackled and unscrupulous agents removed from the market, but HMRC’s ‘volume compliance’ approach is causing problems for legitimate claimants caught in the cross-fire. While we welcome the proposal to create an ‘expert advisory panel’ and the ongoing engagement with HMRC on this subject, there needs to be a clearer plan and more done to ensure that the relief achieves its purpose of supporting innovation.
The previous government consulted on improving standards in the tax advice market. What’s your view on how standards should be improved?
The consultation laid out three options. If we move to regulation, our preference is option one – that all tax advisers should be members of a recognised professional body, building on the framework already in place to hold members to high standards, such as the PCRT (Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation). And HMRC must play their part. They hold more and better data than professional bodies, which if shared, would enable us to understand what HMRC is seeing as the harms, so that behaviours can be targeted appropriately and standards reinforced as necessary.
The CIOT has raised concerns over HMRC service standards. The new government has committed to additional HMRC resource. Will that be enough and how else can HMRC standards be improved?
Resourcing is certainly part of what is needed to improve HMRC performance. It is hard to maintain services, let alone make improvements, when your customer service budget is being cut by more than £60m, as happened this year (the Conservative government committed an extra £51m, but HMRC was being expected to deliver efficiency savings of at least £116m). Ultimately, HMRC are right to focus on the part that digital technology can play in enabling taxpayers to better self-serve. But this shift has to be a natural one, with people choosing to use digital services because they are better than the alternatives, rather than being forced into a digital system that does not yet provide the services, support and reassurance that people need. And in the interim, everyone needs to be able to access the support they need.
Where do you see the CIOT in ten years’ time?
Thriving! We’ll be over 100 years old, continuing to offer the most recognised and coveted chartered tax qualification which remains relevant to members and their clients in a more digital environment where tax is more readily understood, simplified and accessible.
And finally, you might not know this about me but...
One of my main passions is music. I played several instruments (fife, drum) in a Guide and Scout marching band for about ten years. These days I dabble with my saxophone and attend as many concerts as I can, most recently Pink in Glasgow.
