Scottish Income Tax Board minutes: July 2026

Attendees and apologies

•    Deputy Director, Tax Strategy, Engagement, and Performance, SG
•    Head of Income Tax and Tax Strategy, SG
•    Senior Policy Advisor, Scottish Income Tax Policy Team, SG
•    Head of Income Tax and Tax Strategy, SG
•    Head of Income Tax: Structure, Devolution, and Strategy, HMRC (Chair)
•    Senior Policy Advisor, Devolved Income Tax and the Single Point of Contact for Scottish Income Tax, HMRC
•    Head of Inheritance, International, and Devolved Analysis, HMRC 
•    Policy Advisor, Devolved Income Tax

Apologies:

•    Deputy Director, Income Tax Policy, HMRC
•    Income Tax Team Leader and the Single Point of Contact for Scottish Income Tax, SG

Items and actions

Board Papers Update 

The Board approved the Action Log, the minutes of the 20 May 2026 meeting, the Q4 SIT Finance Report and the Q4 SIT Business Intelligence Report.

Stakeholder Engagement

At the last SIT Board meeting, the Board reflected on stakeholder engagement in 2025-26 and discussed potential engagement for 2026-27. The Scottish Government issued a survey to gauge stakeholder interest in various options. The Board discussed the survey results and agreed to trial a quarterly newsletter beginning in September 2026 for twelve months. The Board will consider how to judge the success of the newsletter and whether there are any metrics to monitor.

Compliance System Updates

This work was previously overseen by the Compliance Working Group, looking at the possibility of making changes to HMRC compliance systems to identify Scottish taxpayers. 

Changing Caseflow (HMRC’s compliance system) to identify Scottish taxpayers would take an estimated 6-9 months and cost £50-80k. This estimate is uncertain and requires formal impacting. 

The Board discussed the pros and cons outlined in the paper. It agreed that there may be limited benefits to making the change and agreed to commission CCG to undertake formal impacting to provide an accurate cost and timeline to assist the Board in making a final decision.
SIT Outturn 2024-25

The SIT outturn for 2024-25 was published in July 2026. The Board discussed the key findings and plans for further analysis.

SIT Annual Report 2026

HMRC shared a draft of the 2026 Annual Report. The Board approved the report and discussed sharing the report with the Public Audit Committee.

Forward Look

The Board reviewed a Forward Look for the next meeting and agreed areas of interest including upcoming priorities and the taxation of the state pension.   

AOB and Close

The Board discussed the future of the Compliance Working Group and agreed that it has met its initial objectives. The Board agreed that going forward, Compliance Working Group meetings will immediately follow SIT Board meetings.

The chair closed the meeting.