WRIT will be devolved to Wales on 6 April. The UK government will reduce each of the three rates of income tax – basic, higher and additional rates – paid by Welsh taxpayers by 10p.

In January 2019, the Assembly agreed the motion to add back 10p to the reduced UK rates, which means no changes will be made to the overall levels of income tax when WRIT is implemented in Wales for 2019-20. Welsh income taxpayers will therefore continue to pay the same amount as those in England and Northern Ireland.

PAYE individuals resident in Wales will receive a new tax code that begins with ‘C’, including taxpayers whose income is below the tax threshold, and those who are self-employed will be asked to note their country of residence on their 2019-20 tax return.

WRIT will continue to be collected by HMRC and allocated to the Welsh government as part of its spending budget.

However, an online poll conducted by the finance committee found that almost a third of people who responded did not know about the changes, despite the fact that notification letters had been sent in November 2018 to around two million taxpayers living in Wales, informing them of the transition to WRIT.

The poll via social media found 69% were aware of the impending change, but 31% were not.

Llyr Gruffydd, chair of the finance committee, said: ‘The introduction of WRIT represents a significant increase in the portion of taxes paid by Welsh taxpayers which are decided in Wales.

‘But we are concerned by the evidence, including constituency feedback and the committee's own indicative poll, which suggested a disappointingly high proportion of the population were as-yet unaware of the impending implementation of Welsh rates of income tax.’

The committee also expressed its disappointment that Alun Cairns, the secretary of state for Wales, had refused to give evidence to its inquiry, given that collection of income tax remains a responsibility of the UK.

The committee makes four recommendations in its report. These include an update on the formal evaluation of the communications activity which have taken place ahead of the WRIT implementation, as well as an update on the costs of the implementation and confirmation of the HMRC annual operation costs charge.

The committee is also seeking annual updates from the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) in respect of their workforce planning and the steps being taken to retain knowledge and experience within the organisation, until the appointment of a permanent chief executive, and wants an update on the final costs to disapply stamp duty land tax and its associated costs in Wales.

The report will now be considered by the Welsh government.

Finance committee report, The implementation of fiscal devolution in Wales (2019)

Report by Pat Sweet