The Tax Appeal Commission’s (TAC) Annual Report for 2017 tells us that there have been 1,751 tax appeals before the TAC in 2017; so far in 2018 this has increased to approximately 150 appeals per month. The Annual Report published recently, sets out the workload facing the TAC, which is of an order of magnitude greater than previously anticipated, and identifies the resources necessary for the TAC to manage this workload. The challenges facing the TAC in 2018 are also listed. Information on appeals and guidelines on how to appeal are set out in the Annual Report.

The challenges facing the TAC in 2018 as set out in the Annual Report include:

• ensuring the TAC has adequate resources, in terms of staff, premises and budget, to deal with its inherited and current workload;
• if resources permit, restructuring the TAC so that a dedicated secretariat is established to manage administration, governance and day to day management issues, thereby allowing the Commissioners more time to focus on managing, hearing and determining appeals;
• managing the planned move to new premises and the additional work that will arise in consequence, such as the installation of new IT and communications systems;
• continuing the implementation of our new Case Management System and populating it with the necessary data;
• continuing to implement the measures identified in the 3-year Statement of Strategy;
• moving away from the TAC’s Service Level Agreement with Revenue, to a position of full independence;
• establishing an Audit & Risk Committee;
• if resources permit, improving our website and allowing greater transparency in relation to the scheduling of hearings;
• ensuring compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation; and
• collating data to enable compliance with the Government’s Open Data initiative.

The Annual Report is published on the TAC website.