Mission
LITRG is an initiative of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. Our mission is to:
"Target for help and information those least able in the community to afford to pay for advice and make a real difference to their understanding of the systems of taxation and related benefits whilst working to make them more equitable and accessible for their needs".
We do this by:
- Encouraging government agencies, primarily HMRC, to produce the very best information for those on low incomes. Where they fail to do so we try and compensate with this website and other similar initiatives.
- Researching particular tax areas that may be giving cause for concern and writing reports recommending change.
- Examining Finance Bills and similar legislation for provisions which may adversely affect the constituencies we try and represent and then propose alternatives.
- Monitoring operational developments within HMRC and related government departments which may impact upon low-income constituencies.
- Encouraging people who are in those constituencies to feed to us their day-to-day experiences of the tax and related benefit system.
- Testing by "mystery shopping" whether the services provided by HMRC and related government departments are as promised.
- Sitting on numerous tax and benefit consultative groups and putting forward the perspective of those who cannot afford to pay for advice.
- Promoting the work of tax charities and encouraging professional tax advisers to give their time pro bono to such charities. (LITRG created and trialled the TaxHelp for Older People service which was subsequently transferred into a new tax charity.)
- Helping other charities which may not have in-depth tax expertise to fathom the intricacies of taxation.
At the beginning of 1998 LITRG called for volunteers to help fulfil this mission and was gratified by the response. The current members of LITRG are set out below.
John Andrews (Chairman)
Former Head of Tax at Coopers & Lybrand and former President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation
Alan Barton
Social Policy Consultant at Citizens Advice, volunteer adviser at Rickmansworth CAB & public sector consultancy in the UK and abroad.
Leonard Beighton
Former Deputy Chairman, Board of Inland Revenue and consultant to CARE
Colin Bruce
Secondee from HMRC helping with income tax issues
Larry Darby
Former tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers
Nigel Eastaway
Partner in BDO and author
Andrew Flint
Tax writer with LexisNexis Butterworths
Eile Gibson
CTA, non-practicing Barrister and practicing Solicitor. She specialises in corporate tax, employment tax and related matters, VAT and property taxes. She is a volunteer for TaxHelp for Older People.
Martin Hodgson
Former regional director of the Revenue, currently involved in projects with overseas tax administrations
Sue Jones
Technical Officer, Chartered Tax Adviser and Trust and Estate Practitioner.
Patrick Millard
Chief Executive of Tax Volunteers & Director of TaxHelp for Older People
Jane Moore
Technical Manager at the Tax Faculty of the ICAEW
William Norris
Retired solicitor and barrister, Past Chairman of TaxHelp for Older People
Gerry Petherick
Former Pensioner Champion and Student Champion for HMRC
Philip Ridgway
Barrister, Temple Tax Chambers
Kelly Sizer
Technical Officer for LITRG, Chartered Tax Adviser formerly in practice
James Stevens
Secondee from HMRC helping to manage a new website project
Janet Tish
Chartered Tax Adviser in practice and Technical Officer for LITRG
Victoria Todd
Welfare Benefits Adviser with previous experience within the charity and local government sectors
Sally West
Policy Adviser - Income for Age UK and author
Bernard White
Former tax and knowledge management partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers
John Whiting
Tax Policy Director at CIOT and former tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Robin Williamson
Technical Director of LITRG and former tax editor
