CIOT: New President sets out tax priorities in letter to new Chancellor

CIOT: New President sets out tax priorities in letter to new Chancellor

CIOT: New President sets out tax priorities in letter to new Chancellor

Simplicity, certainty and tax law reform should be among the priorities for the new government, the new President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has said in a letter to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Vincent Oratore took office at the Institute’s Annual General Meeting yesterday, when he succeeded Andrew Hubbard as President of the CIOT.

In his letter, Vincent Oratore offers his congratulations to George Osborne on his appointment as Chancellor and says:

“I appreciate that you will have many issues pressing for your attention at the moment, but many of the early decisions that you take will set the tone of your Chancellorship. As you prepare for your first Budget, I am sure you will have regard to the administration of tax as well as its rates and incidence. Taxpayers understand the pressures of the times but they will not understand if the Budget makes compliance with their legal obligations more difficult.”

Vincent Oratore sets out four key issues that deserve the Chancellor’s focus:

· Setting direction for the development of our taxes
· Resisting adding to the complexity of one of the most complex tax regimes in the world
· Taking steps to improve the way tax law is made
· Working with the tax community to make tax law and taxation more certain and ensuring the UK continues to have a tax system dependent on the law, not HMRC practice.

The letter concludes:

“The CIOT has a record second to none in the quality and independence of our contributions to the consultative process – a process that has improved considerably in recent years. We look forward to the process improving still further under your Chancellorship and to the CIOT contributing significantly to improving the quality of the UK’s tax laws and practice. I and my colleagues stand ready to work with you, your ministerial colleagues and officials in the coming years.”

The letter has been copied to other Treasury ministers, including David Gauke, the new minister responsible for tax and HMRC.

Notes to Editors

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is a charity and the leading professional body in the United Kingdom concerned solely with taxation. The CIOT’s primary purpose is to promote education and study of the administration and practice of taxation. One of the key aims is to achieve a better, more efficient, tax system for all affected by it – taxpayers, advisers and the authorities.

The CIOT’s comments and recommendations on tax issues are made solely in order to achieve its primary purpose: it is politically neutral in its work. The CIOT will seek to draw on its members’ experience in private practice, government, commerce and industry and academia to argue and explain how public policy objectives (to the extent that these are clearly stated or can be discerned) can most effectively be achieved.

The CIOT’s 15,000 members have the practising title of ‘Chartered Tax Adviser’.

– ENDS –

George Crozier
External Relations Manager
D: +44 (0)20 7340 0569
M: +44 (0)7740 477374
Email: gcrozier@ciot.org.uk

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