Eligibility criteria are too vague

Members of the Chartered Institute of Taxation will be eligible to serve in Scotland’s First-tier Tax Tribunal. But the institute was concerned that eligibility criteria for other potential members were ill-defined. 

 

In its response to the Scottish government’s consultation on draft regulations on the eligibility criteria the institute looked at how they would affect ordinary members of the tax jurisdiction of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland. 

 

Moira Kelly chair of the CIOT’s Scottish technical subcommittee said the term “substantial experience” in relation to unaffiliated tax professionals was “problematic” because it was subjective. Agreeing that “it is necessary to have the possibility of gaining eligibility through experience” she said: “There should be some indication as to the meaning of ‘substantial’ in this context. For example regulation 2 ... requires legal members of...