The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order makes provision consequential on the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 which establishes Revenue Scotland and makes provision about the collection and management of devolved taxes (within the meaning of section 80A(4) of the Scotland Act 1998). Revenue Scotland is known as Teachd-a-steach Alba in Gaelic.

Articles 2 and 3 make Revenue Scotland part of the Scottish Administration. Accordingly, Revenue Scotland will be a Non-Ministerial Department accountable to the Scottish Parliament. Amongst other things, in terms of the Crown Suits (Scotland) Act 1857(1) the Lord Advocate will be entitled to conduct civil litigation on behalf of Revenue Scotland.

Article 4 provides for the sharing of taxpayer and other information between Revenue Scotland and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, by substituting Revenue Scotland for the Scottish Ministers in section 18(2)(i) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 and repealing section 18(2A) of that Act, which prohibited onward disclosure of information received from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, leaving onward disclosure to be governed by section 15 of the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014.

Article 5 inserts a reference to Revenue Scotland into the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 to disqualify members of Revenue Scotland from being members of the House of Commons.

Article 6 inserts a reference to Revenue Scotland into the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014 to enable protected disclosures (within the meaning of Part IVA of the Employment Rights Act 1996(2)) to be made to Revenue Scotland. Further, protected disclosures in connection with Land and Buildings Transaction Tax(3) and Scottish Landfill Tax(4) may be made to the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency respectively.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.