Revenue names first adjudicator: Woman to investigate tax disputes
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Your support makes all the difference.THE INLAND Revenue has named its first adjudicator to resolve disputes with taxpayers.
She is Elizabeth Filkin, a former chief executive of the National Association of Citizens' Advice Bureaux and former assistant chief executive of the London Docklands Development Corporation. Ms Filkin is a director of Hay Management Consultants and a non-executive director of Britannia Building Society. She is a member of the Advertising Standards Authority and chairs the Lord Chancellor's Legal Aid Committee.
Ms Filkin will investigate complaints about the way the Revenue has handled taxpayers' affairs.
The decision to appoint an adjudicator is one of several steps being taken by the Revenue to improve its service. All are part of the Government's Citizen's Charter to raise standards in public services.
Ms Filkin said her work with Citizens' Advice Bureaux had showed her the difficulties taxpayers could encounter.
'I have seen from the other side that people find dealing with tax affairs quite difficult.'
However, she stressed that she was not setting out with the aim of automatically championing the taxpayer's cause.
'To be really useful to taxpayers you have to be absolutely even-handed,' she said.
Ms Filkin will be paid by the Inland Revenue but did not believe this compromised her independence. She had a tightly drawn contract with the Revenue, she said, which allowed her to be sacked only for gross inefficiency.
The adjudicator will recommend compensation where she believes this is appropriate.
Ms Filkin was chosen from 700 applicants for the post. She starts her new job, expected to take three days a week, at the beginning of next month on a salary of pounds 55,000, pro rata. She will pay tax under the pay-as-you- earn system.
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