12 June 2012

Scotland planning its own tax agency

The Scottish Parliament has announced its intention to set up a separate tax agency by 2015.

The body, called Revenue Scotland, will be responsible for collecting devolved taxes such as stamp duty and landfill tax.

Finance secretary John Swinney said the agency ‘would serve the needs of the people of Scotland at a lower cost than the UK set up’.

He added that the Scottish Government would introduce a system ‘that is simple to operate and digital first’, with IT systems developed to ‘simplify processing and reduce late payment’.

In a recent study, ICAS queried the implications of progressive and flat based tax rates and questioned who would be responsible for running the Scottish tax system.

‘This is the first time the Scottish Parliament has had to consider tax legislation,’ commented Elspeth Orcharton, director of corporate and international taxes at ICAS.

‘The tax community will study the details with great interest and ICAS will continue to engage and consult on what this would mean in practice’.

HMRC will still be responsible for the administration and collection of income tax in Scotland, even after the Scotland Act comes into force.

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