Scottish Income Tax Board minutes: July 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Deputy Director, Tax Strategy, Engagement, and Performance, Scottish Government (SG)  
• Head of Tax Strategy and Income Tax, SG 
• Income Tax Team Leader and the Single Point of Contact for Scottish Income Tax, SG
• Economic Adviser, Fiscal Analysis, Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, SG 
• Deputy Director, Income Tax Policy, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) (Chair)
• Head of Income Tax: Structure, Devolution, and Strategy, HMRC
• Senior Policy Advisor, Devolved Income Tax and the Single Point of Contact for Scottish Income Tax, HMRC 

Apologies: 

• Head of Inheritance, International, and Devolved Analysis, HMRC 

Items and actions

Review of actions points

The board reviewed the outstanding actions.

Chair’s board papers update

The board discussed the correspondence papers.

The board approved the 2023 to 2024 Quarter 1 Finance Report.

Third party data clash scan

HMRC’s third party supplier presented on the third party data clash scan, which runs every two years to compare HMRC’s address records with third party data. This assesses the accuracy of HMRC’s identification of Scottish taxpayers.

The board agreed to review the frequency of the third party data clash scan following the conclusion of the 2023 to 2024 process.

Scottish Income Tax compliance plan

The Compliance Plan outlines HMRC’s anticipated compliance activities in 2023 to 2024 in relation to Scottish Income Tax.

Compliance activity in 2023 to 2024 will concentrate on tax liabilities from the 2021 to 2022 tax year, reflecting the timing of self-assessment returns. 

The board commissioned an update to the Compliance Plan to further consider how HMRC’s Scottish Income Tax compliance activity fits into its wider work to administer Scottish Income Tax.

Scottish Income Tax outturn

HMRC presented a summary of the Scottish Income Tax outturn statistics for the 2021 to 2022 tax year.

The board discussed the outturn results and commissioned further analysis on the effect of growth in different types of income on Scottish Income Tax liabilities.

Public Audit Committee review

The board reviewed the Scottish Parliament Public Audit Committee hearing attended by SG and HMRC on 11 May 2023 and the informal briefing session on 20 April 2023.

The board agreed to offer an informal briefing session annually to the Scottish Parliament Public Audit Committee.

The board discussed how to share details of work carried out on the administration of Scottish Income Tax with the Scottish Parliament Public Audit Committee throughout the year.

Forward look

The board reviewed its 2023 to 2024 forward look. No changes were proposed.

Any other business and close

There will be a change of Director for Tax and Revenues in Scottish Government from February 2024.

The chair closed the meeting.