UK Taxpayers' Charter Draft Inadequate Says CIOT

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

13 April 2009

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), which has been campaigning for a Taxpayers' Charter for some time, has expressed considerable disappointment with the draft as set out in the current Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) consultative document.

The CIOT sees the draft Charter as inadequate and too orientated towards HMRC rather than towards users of their services. It also believes the Charter should map out the rights and responsibilities of the taxpayer, the tax administrator and other groups who have contact with HMRC.

However, the draft document seems instead to have been produced by editing the recent internal mission statement 'HMRC Vision'. This has resulted in the draft Charter talking about HMRC 'pursuing relentlessly those who break or bend the rules' yet making no mention of users' rights to pay only the correct amount of tax or receive the right amount of benefits.

Nick Goulding, CIOT President, commented:

"We can completely understand that the Charter should have regard to the 'HMRC Vision' and that the Charter should work for HMRC staff as well as for their customers. But its main orientation must be for users of HMRC's services; it seems to us that the current draft has lost sight of this aim."

The CIOT thinks that a Charter should be seen by HMRC as an opportunity to restore confidence in the department and its operations.

Mr Goulding added:

"It is an important complement to the ongoing review of HMRC's Powers, and needs to show that the Department has a proper sense of taxpayers’ rights and is prepared to set out safeguards that balance its new powers."

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