HM Revenue & Customs has announced that its director general responsible for customer strategy and tax design, Jim Harra, is to take on the role of tax assurance commissioner from the agency’s executive chair, Edward Troup.
The move follows questions over the independence and experience of tax-assurance commissioners raised by Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier in the wake of controversy surrounding Google’s corporation tax payments earlier this year.
She was speaking after the former HMRC chief executive Lin Homer told the Treasury Select Committee that while she was a tax commissioner herself, she was not an expert.
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HMRC confirmed Harra’s appointment was part of “organisational changes” that would see Troup “relinquishing the tax assurance role” now that he has wider responsibility for the whole agency.
In a statement it said Harra was “well placed to oversee the assurance and dispute governance arrangements” that allow parliament and the public to be confident that HMRC secures the right tax under the law when resolving tax disputes.
“Jim does not directly engage with taxpayers to discuss their specific tax liabilities, nor is he responsible for the HMRC operational units that manage taxpayers’ compliance,” it added.
Harra joined the Inland Revenue as an inspector of taxes in 1984. He was appointed director of corporation tax and VAT in 2009 and became director general of business tax in 2012.
Tax assurance commissioners were introduced in 2012 as part of a package of reforms. They scrutinise proposed resolutions for disputes with large corporations. A panel of three commissioners reaches a decision on each individual case.