First tax chamber tribunal president appointed

Anne Scott has been named as the inaugural Tax Chamber President of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

Mrs Scott,a former partner in Brander & Cruickshank W.S and in Ernst & Young based in Aberdeen, has accepted the appointment with effect from Monday 24 April when the jurisdiction of devolved taxes transferred from the Tax Tribunals for Scotland to the newly-created Scottish Tribunals.

Mrs Scott has also been a Board Member at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as well as Aberdeen Harbour Board and a Governor of the Robert Gordon University.

She has been a Judge in the UK First-tier Tribunal Tax Chamber since its inception and after spending most of her working life in Aberdeen has been living and working in Edinburgh for the last five years.

Mrs Scott has also been a Judge in the Social Entitlement Chamber for many years and a legal member of Mental Health Tribunal Scotland since its inception.

Minister for Legal Affairs Annabelle Ewing appointed Mrs Scott to take on the role following a recruitment exercise carried out by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.

The Minister said: “I am delighted Mrs Scott has accepted this appointment, and confident that her knowledge and experience in tax law and tribunals will be greatly beneficial to the operation of the First-tier Tribunal Tax Chamber.

I am also grateful to Ruthven Gemmell for his work as Temporary President of the Scottish Tax Tribunals pending the appointment of the new Tax Chamber President.”

In her role as Tax Chamber President, Mrs Scott will provide leadership to the Tax Chamber when they hear cases involving devolved taxes.”

This post is part-time and attracts a daily fee of £520.25.

The current Tax Tribunals for Scotland, which will be superseded by the new arrangements, was established to decide appeals relating to Lands and Buildings Transaction Tax and Scottish Landfill Tax.

The transfer of jurisdiction to Scottish Tribunals is part of the on-going implementation of the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014 to create a coherent structure for devolved tribunals which had developed in an ad hoc manner over the years.

The Act set up two new tribunals – The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, for initial decisions and the Upper Tribunal for Scotland, primarily for appeals from the First-tier – as well as bringing leadership of the tribunals under the remit of the Lord President.