Senior HMRC officials have told MPs they are confident that the department will be able to administer the new Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) efficiently, despite its current reductions in headcount, with £40m allocated to implementing the new system over the next five years
The second session of the Treasury select committee’s investigation into proposals for further fiscal and economic devolution in Scotland heard evidence from Edward Troup, HMRC’s tax assurance commissioner, that the most challenging element of this change was identifying all Scottish taxpayers.
‘The criteria are based on place of residence, and that will determine the tax status of the majority of people affected. For anyone who has two homes, one in Scotland and one elsewhere in the UK, then it is the principal residency which will determine tax status,’ Troup said.
Troup said that in the ‘vast majority’ of cases’ it would be straightforward to determine residency, while for those who moved regularly between locations there would be tests based on counting the number of days spent in each country. He estimated that only around 40,000 people were likely to fall into this category.
MPs
