CIOT Council
Council is the strategic governing body of the CIOT whose members are appointed through a nominations process. Those who serve on Council are trustees of a charity and have responsibilities under UK charity law. As part of this, each Council Member is asked to agree to abide by the CIOT's Code of Conduct for Council Members
Council members, as charity trustees, have a general duty to declare and manage conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest is any situation in which a charity trustee’s personal interests, or interests which they owe to another body, and those of the charity arise simultaneously or appear to conflict. Registers of Interests are maintained for Council Members (Trustees) and Senior Staff. The registers are available here:
Register of Interests for Council Members (Trustees)
Register of Interests for Senior Staff
Register of Interests for the Lay Representative
Presidential Team and Council
President
Charlotte Barbour
[email protected]Charlotte has been a CIOT Council member since 2019 and is the current President. She worked for many years at ICAS, Edinburgh, in a range of policy and regulatory roles, and was secretary to the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation Working Group (comprising seven professional bodies). Her work with CIOT includes being a member of the Officers Group of Council, the joint CIOT-ATT Officers and Senior Staff Forum, the Scottish Technical Committee, and past chair of the CIOT Nominations Committee. Charlotte is the author of ‘The Management of Taxes in Scotland’ published by Bloomsbury Professional.
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Gary Ashford
CTA (Fellow), ATT. Partner (non-lawyer), Harbottle and Lewis LLP. Council Member since 2011. Member of the Joint Officers and Senior Staff Forum, the Management of Taxes Committee and Officers Group. Formerly a Tax Inspector at HM Revenue & Customs.
Deputy President
Nichola Ross Martin
Nichola Ross Martin CTA (Fellow), FCA. Founder of the Rossmartin.co.uk online tax resources and the Virtual Tax Partner support service. She enjoys supporting professional firms accountants & advisers and is a specialist in OMB business taxes, reorganisations & reconstructions, share schemes, appeals and investigations. A CIOT Council member since 2017, a member of CIOT’s Membership and Branches Committee and Joint Equality Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Currently a Tax Consultant to 2020 Innovation, a tax lecturer, writer and web designer.
Vice President
Paul Aplin OBE
CTA (Fellow), FCA, FRSA. Formerly Tax Partner AC Mole & Sons. Council Member since 2017. Past President of ICAEW (2018-19). Former Chair of the ICAEW Tax Faculty and Tax Faculty Technical Committee. Member of Administrative Burdens Advisory Board of HMRC. Member of CIOT Audit and Risk Committee and Chair of Diploma in Tax Technology Committee. Currently an adviser to several software businesses and writer/speaker on tax technology & tax administration.
Susan Ball
CTA (Fellow), ATT. Tax Partner, RSM. Council member since 2017. Member of the Employment Taxes Committee, Joint Officers and Senior Staff Forum and Officers Group. Past Joint Chair and founder member of the CIOT/ATT Suffolk Branch. Writes and lectures on employment tax and NIC.
John Barnett
MA (Oxon) CTA (Fellow), TEP, Solicitor. Partner at Burges Salmon. Council member since 2014. Chair of the Technical Policy and Oversight Committee, Member, the Private Client (International) Committee and the Private Client (UK) Committee. Former member of the GAAR Interim Panel. Contributor to Wealth Tax Commission. Member of CenTax Advisory Board. Formerly member of Bristol Branch Committee. Formerly chair of Presiding Judges, STEP Private Client Awards.
Joanna Bello
LLB (Hons), CTA (Fellow). A partner at PwC since 2010 Jo has been the EMEA Indirect taxes leader and until recently Global Indirect taxes leader. She specialised in working with large multinationals and has also undertaken a number of secondments to clients including those in start-up situations, financial services and for a FTSE top 10. Jo has worked as people partner for top tier tax and still remains involved in this area for the firm. Council member since 2021. Chair of Examination Committee. She is a former CTA examiner.
Alistair Cliff
BSc, BEng, FCA, CTA (Fellow). Alistair is a director at Deloitte LLP, where he is the Quality and Risk Management leader for Deloitte’s Swiss Tax and Legal practice, and is a member of the Deloitte Global Tax & Legal Q&R team. He qualified as a chartered accountant and a CTA with Arthur Andersen in Nottingham, speclialising in corporate taxation, providing tax compliance support and advising a wide range of companies, from family owned companies through to large groups listed on UK and overseas stock markets. Council member since 2024. Member, and past Chair, of the CIOT and ATT Joint Professional Standards Committee and Chair of Joint Regulation Working Party
Sarah Hewson
LLB (Hons), CTA (Fellow), ATT. UK Employment Tax Technical Lead, Vialto Partners, having started her tax career as a tax lawyer at an international law firm before moving to the Big Four to specialise in employment taxes. Council member since 2021. Chair of Membership & Branches Committee Chair of London Branch, member of Joint Branches Committee and the Employment Tax Technical Committee.
Mobeen Ismail
BSc (Hons), CA, CTA (Fellow). Managing Director in a practice he started in 2015 (Reed Dawson - Chartered Accountants). Council member since 2021. Member of Finance & Operations Committee Mobeen trained as a Chartered Accountant and Tax Adviser with KPMG.
Ashley Makoni
Exec MBA, BSc, CTA (Fellow), FCCA. Group Head of Tax at Aptia Ltd, she oversees international tax compliance and strategic tax planning for the organisation. Previously Global Tax Director at Kroll and the Head of Group Tax and Partnership Accounting at CMS. Council member since 2021, member of Professional Standards Committee. She is part of the inaugural Nebula cohort, dedicated to fostering diversity in UK boards. Ashley has volunteered with various charities, including the Salvation Army and Visio Corporate Ltd. She is also actively involved in mentoring initiatives, including her current role with Reach Out.
Nikhil Mehta
LLB, CTA (Fellow). Barrister, member of Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers. Council member since 2018. Previously partner, Linklaters and at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Member of the International Taxes Committee and Technical Policy and Oversight Committee. Member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and LITRG Panel, past ADIT examiner.
Peter Rayney
CTA (Fellow), FCA TEP. Principal at Peter Rayney Tax Consulting. Council Member since 2016. Past CIOT President. Previously at BDO LLP. Chair of the Conferences Working Party, Mid-Anglia Branch Committee member. Past CIOT examiner.
Jonathan Riley
CTA (Fellow). Partner at PKF, Francis Clark and former Partner, Grant Thornton UK LLP. Council member since 2017. Member of the Joint Professional Standards Committee. Member of HM Treasury’s Tax Professionals Forum and of Mid-Tier Agents Forum. Formerly a Tax Inspector at HM Revenue & Customs, Department of Trade & Industry, Coopers & Lybrand.
Chris Shrubsole
BSc, Exec MBA, CTA (Fellow). Lead Business Learning Partner for KPMG Tax and Legal. Chris started in tax with KPMG and after qualifying was seconded to the Tax Learning and Development function. He has taught on a wide variety of taxes across Corporate and Indirect Tax and been heavily involved in the design and delivery of Ethics and Business skills programmes. He was appointed by the Department for Education as a member of the Accounting T Level Panel responsible for developing the new T Levels in England. Council member since 2021. Vice Chair Education Committee.
Xiaoshan Sun
MSc, CA, CTA (Fellow). Tax Technology Lead at Deliveroo. Xiaoshan is responsible for developing the technology strategy and roadmap, designing, and implementing technology solutions to meet a broad array of tax requirements, including tax compliance, real-time transaction reporting, operational transfer pricing and tax dispute resolution. Originally training as an economist she qualified as a Chartered Accountant and a CTA with KPMG. She has held previous roles with Morgan Stanley, BDO, Omnicom Group and Unilever. Council member since 2024, she was heavily involved in developing the CIOT’s Diploma in Tax Technology (DITT) and is a member of the DITT Committee.
Sofia Thomas
Msc (Oxon) CTA (Fellow). Partner Juno Tax. Council member since 2024. Chair of the International Sports Tax Association, Member of the ATT Technical Steering Group, Member of HMRC Wealthy External Forum, Member AAT Tax Panel. Sofia is co-author of Tax Implications of Family Breakdown (1st and 2nd edition) and author of Taxation and the Elite Athlete (awaiting publication). Sofia is a regular tax commentator in the press.
Penelope Tuck
BSc, PhD, CTA (Fellow), FCA. Professor of Accounting, Public Finance & Policy, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. Council member since 2019.
Past member of the Nominations Committee and the Education Committee. Vice Chair of the Research Advisory Board, ICAEW and member of the Research Committee, Chartered Association of Business Schools.
Lay Representative
Krzysztof Mikata-Pralat
BA (Hons) MA (Hons) CMgr FCMI. Lay Representative since 2022. Works as an executive and non-executive director in the not-for-profit sector in the UK.