ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

New poll discovers more than four-fifths of Scots lack an understanding of devolved taxes

crowd
  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
By CA Today

12 October 2018

Key points:

  • ICAS and CIOT have published a paper on the tax policy making process.
  • It sets out recommendations to improve public understanding and awareness of Scotland’s devolved tax powers.
  • The call for improvement is backed up by the findings of a poll that found 84% of Scots think that they need better information about how taxes are decided in Scotland.

A new report by Scotland’s leading tax and accountancy bodies is today recommending that more is done to improve public understanding and awareness of Scotland’s devolved tax powers.

The call is backed up by the findings of a poll commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) for the Scottish Taxes Policy Forum – a collaboration between CIOT and ICAS – that found 84% of Scots think that they need better information about how taxes are decided in Scotland.

The Scottish Taxes Policy Forum paper, Devolving Taxes across the UK: Learning from the Scottish Experience, recommends that the tax policy making process can be improved by:

  • A more logical and consistent approach to the devolution of tax powers across the UK and a more realistic timeframe between the UK and Scottish Budgets
  • The introduction of an annual Scottish Finance Bill and a permanent Tax Committee at Holyrood to increase the visibility of tax policy decisions
  • Greater policy collaboration between the Scottish Government and Revenue Scotland, and between Westminster and the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The survey also found that:

  • 60% of Scots surveyed believe that the relationship between UK and Scottish taxes is difficult to understand
  • 52% said that they had little or no understanding of the definition of a Scottish taxpayer
  • 66% were unaware that income tax was the responsibility of both Westminster and Holyrood, with 57% unaware that Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) is devolved to the Scottish Parliament

The poll also found that nearly two-fifths of Scots (39%) believe that the amount of income tax they pay has gone up in recent years, with just 11% of Scots earning less than £30,000 per year believing that they have paid less in income tax in recent years.

The Scottish Government has previously said that people earning less than £26,000 per year will pay less in income tax in Scotland than under the UK wide regime.

Jim Robertson, chair of the Scottish Taxes Policy Forum, said: “The findings of this poll provide further evidence that the public is struggling to make sense of the tax powers that have been devolved to Holyrood and the changing nature of Scotland’s tax landscape.

“As we outline in the paper, we believe that there are a number of steps that Holyrood and Westminster can take to alleviate this public perception deficit and improve awareness and understanding of tax devolution.

“This includes earlier – and better – consultation with all stakeholders and improving the visibility of the tax policy process in the Scottish Parliament. The introduction of a Scottish Finance Bill as a one-stop shop for introducing and amending tax policy and the creation of a dedicated tax committee could help with this.

“Scotland’s devolved tax journey has only recently begun but we hope that politicians and policy makers will take our report and the results of our polling and use these as the basis for a more informed debate about Scotland’s changing tax landscape”.

ICAS publishes updated Guide to Scottish Taxes

By Charlotte Barbour, Director of Taxation, ICAS

2 May 2018

2-23-marsh 2-23-marsh
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: