Are you interested in working with government(s), HMRC, other professional bodies and stakeholders to improve VAT law and processes? Discussing indirect tax developments and finding solutions with experts from diverse backgrounds? Sharing (and receiving) VAT, customs and duties policy proposals by having a seat at the table of the most influential working groups in Europe and globally?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, then we would like you to consider applying to volunteer on ICAEW Tax Faculty’s VAT and Duties Committee (VATDC). The committee includes representatives from professional bodies and firms across England and Wales, as well as further afield. The VATDC meets three times a year, now in person again, although much of its work is done outside formal meetings through email and video calls.

The VATDC and its volunteers are well known and respected in the world of VAT. For example, alongside his day job Stephen Dale, Chair of the VATDC, is Chair of the International VAT Association, as well as a member of Accountancy Europe’s Tax Policy Group and the VAT Expert Group.

Tax Faculty staff or volunteers actively participate in HMRC’s Joint VAT Consultative Committee, Joint Customs Consultative Committee and its Land and Property and Finance Liaison Groups. Additionally, we have representation on the Technical Committee of the VAT Practitioners’ Group and the CIOT Indirect Taxes Committee. We are also represented on the board of CFE Tax Advisers Europe and we support the work of the OECD’s Working Party 9 on Consumption Taxes.

Recently, we have had the opportunity to respond to formal consultations from HMRC on value shifting, the sharing economy, the land exemption and the future of customs, as well as a European Commission consultation on VAT in the digital age. Furthermore, our representation on such a wide range of committees and groups allows us to actively contribute to policymaking throughout the process, including at pre-consultation stage.

Notwithstanding all the above, we still want to do more. To achieve this, we want to grow the VATDC to ensure that it reflects all our members’ interests by working with a wide range of volunteers from across the profession. This includes practitioners from large and small firms, as well as independent practitioners and those working in industry.

VATDC volunteers are asked to contribute in various ways. For example, this might be:

• suggesting and drafting matters to take up with HMRC or government, with the OECD or even the EU Commission;
• contributing to the faculty’s responses to consultation documents or draft legislation; and/or
• attending meetings with government and HMRC as an ICAEW representative.

In support of ICAEW’s public interest role, VATDC volunteers may also wish to share their knowledge and experience with the wider ICAEW membership, which might be published in TAXline, in our series of TAXguides or presented in a webinar.

If you would be interested in joining the VATDC and contributing to our work on the evolving VAT, customs and duties systems, primarily in the UK, and to work on practical solutions to everyday problems, please contact Ed Saltmarsh (Ed.Saltmarsh@icaew.com).

About the author

Ed Saltmarsh recently joined ICAEW’s Tax Faculty as Technical Manager for VAT and Customs and is Committee Manager for the VATDC. Ed previously spent seven and a half years working in practice for BDO