CIOT: Institute welcomes John Whiting’s appointment to HMRC board
The President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has welcomed today’s announcement by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that the Institute’s Tax Policy Director, John Whiting, has been appointed as a non-executive board member of the department.
John Whiting will take up a position on the HMRC board from 1 April 2013 and will chair the department’s Audit and Risk Committee. He will cease being employed by the CIOT at the same time, but will remain involved in the Institute. He will also remain in his role as Tax Director of the Office of Tax Simplification (the OTS is an independent office of the Treasury, not HMRC).
CIOT President Patrick Stevens has welcomed the announcement, saying:
“The CIOT has long argued that there needs to be more tax experience at the top of HMRC, including on the department’s board. I am delighted that the Government are delivering this with the appointment of an experienced tax professional such as John Whiting to the department’s board.
“The Institute’s loss will be HMRC’s gain. John’s expertise and understanding of the tax system is unsurpassed.
“I am delighted that John will be able to remain involved in the CIOT’s work while serving on HMRC’s board. It is good that the Government recognise the benefits of having a board member with ongoing continuous engagement with tax professionals. Obviously we will take care to ensure there is no danger of any conflict of interest in any of John’s continuing involvement with the Institute. We will also work to minimise any perception of a conflict of interest.
“Clearly HMRC are going through challenging times. The pressure on them to improve tax compliance rates has never been greater. At the same time they are having to find resources to improve poor service levels as well as coping with the child benefit charge and real-time information.
“There is no magic bullet but having practical tax expertise at the top of the department can only be an advantage. Involving at a senior level individuals from the tax profession will help enhance HMRC’s understanding of tax agents and how they need to play a key part in HMRC’s strategy going forward. ”
Notes to editors
John Whiting was appointed as the first Tax Policy Director of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) in 2009, following a long career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he was a tax partner for 25 years. John is a past President of the CIOT and is regular speaker and commentator on a wide variety of taxation topics as well as being a member of the first-tier Tax Tribunal. He was awarded the OBE in 2008 for services to the tax profession. Since 2010 he has been Tax Director of the Government’s Office of Tax Simplification.
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 16,500 members have the practising title of ‘Chartered Tax Adviser’ and the designatory letters ‘CTA’.
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