The Adjudicator’s Office was established in 1993. Its current responsibilities include dealing with complaints about HM Revenue & Customs and the Valuation Office Agency, and reviewing Home Office decisions on entitlement to compensation under the Windrush Compensation Scheme. This section of the GOV.UK web site includes information and guidance on the complaint procedure, annual reports and other publications.
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), which was founded in 1930 and granted its Royal Charter in 1994, is a UK based professional body concerned with all aspects of taxation. The “Policy and Technical” section of the web site contains articles from CIOT’s monthly journal (excluding the current issue). The “Professional Standards” section includes CIOT’s Professional Rules and Practice Guidelines as well as a number of guidance documents intended for members but freely available on the site. Annual reports 2011 onwards are in the “About Us” section. The “Media Centre” has press releases and a blog.
The web site of the European Commission’s Taxation and Customs Union Directorate-General includes a Legislation section, accessible via several of the home page tabs, with links to European Union taxation and customs legislation on the EUR-Lex database, and to cases from the European Court of Justice on taxation and customs matters. There are also extensive links to EU legislation in the sections devoted to specific topics such as value added tax and the Union Customs Code as well as links to national bodies.
The First-tier Tribunal (Tax) hears appeals against decisions relating to tax made by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Border Force (in connection with seized goods) and the National Crime Agency (in connection with suspected money laundering). It was created on 1 April 2009, replacing four former separate tax tribunals – the General Commissioners of Income Tax, the VAT and Duties Tribunal, the Special Commissioners of Income Tax and the Section 704/706 Tribunal. This section of the GOV.UK web site has information on the appeal procedure with links to forms, guidance, practice directions, practice statements and legislation. The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009 are available in an unofficial consolidated version which incorporates amendments. There is also a link to a database of decisions 2002 onwards (searchable April 2003 onwards), together with a few earlier ones, on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary web site.
Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers is a set of barristers’ chambers specialising in revenue law. The site includes articles written by members of chambers, and digests of court and tribunal cases in which members have been involved, most of them with links to full transcripts.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is a non-ministerial department whose main responsibility is the collection of taxes. It was created by the merger on 18 April 2005 of the former Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides information on HMRC’s activities, policies, publications and announcements. The section “Tax agents and advisers” has content relevant particularly to the work of tax and other professionals, including forms, guidance, manuals and statements of practice.
The Treasury is responsible for the UK government’s financial and economic policy. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides current information on the Treasury’s activities, policies, publications and announcements.
The International Tax Planning Association (ITPA) web site holds a collection of offshore tax laws, articles, case law and other information. Some information is for members only but there is a “Library” section which is available to non-members. This includes a Portfolio of Laws link which lists legislation by jurisdiction. (Full text is only available to members: title information is given to non-members.) There are also links to full text articles from the ITPA Yearbook archive (but not the most recent Yearbook).
The Lowtax Network provides news and information about the tax and legal regimes in a wide variety of jurisdictions. It provides information on over 50 offshore and onshore “low tax” countries. Included is information about each jurisdiction’s tax status, tax system, special offshore regimes and company forms. All this can be found under “Global Tax Coverage”.
Pump Court Tax Chambers is a set of barristers’ chambers specialising in tax law. The site’s “Resources” section includes a “Judgments & decisions” file of full text cases. There are also articles January 2010 onwards.
The Upper Tribunal was established on 1 April 2009 as a superior court of record with UK-wide jurisdiction. Its Tax and Chancery Chamber hears appeals from decisions of the First-tier Tribunal in tax, land registration and charity cases, and also (after taking over on 6 April 2010 the functions of the former Financial Services and Markets Tribunal and Pensions Regulator Tribunal) from decisions of the Financial Conduct Authority and other organisations involved in the regulation of financial services. This section of the GOV.UK web site has information on the appeal process, with links to forms and guidance; registers of forthcoming hearings; procedural rules and practice directions; and decisions 2002 onwards.
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