Spokespeople


The CIOT's spokespeople can be contacted for media comment via the CIOT's External Relations Team 

JAMIE PRESLAND

External Relations Officer

Officers and Senior staff

President

Gary Ashford

CTA (Fellow), ATT. Partner (non-lawyer), Harbottle and Lewis LLP. Council Member since 2011. Member of Management of Taxes, Professional Standards, European Branch and the Birmingham & West Midlands Branch Committees. Vice President of CFE Executive Board, CIOT representative at CFE Professional Affairs Committee. Formerly an HMRC Tax Inspector. Areas of expertise: • Dispute resolution and serious tax investigations • International personal taxes • International corporate taxes

Deputy President

Charlotte Barbour

Charlotte has been a CIOT Council member since 2019 and is the current Deputy President. She is the Director of Regulatory Authorisations at ICAS, in Edinburgh. Her work with CIOT include being a member of the Officers Group of Council, the joint CIOT-ATT Officers and Senior Staff Forum, secretary to Professional Standards in relation to the Taxation Working Group (comprising seven professional bodies), a member of the Scottish Technical Committee, and she was a past chair of the CIOT Nominations Committee. In addition, Charlotte is the author of ‘The Management of Taxes in Scotland’ published by Bloomsbury Professional, and is a MA, CA, CTA (Fellow).

Immediate Past President

Susan Ball

CTA (Fellow), ATT. Tax Partner, RSM. Council member since 2017. Member of Employment Taxes Sub-Committee. Past Joint Chair and founder member of the CIOT/ATT Suffolk Branch. Writes and lectures on employment tax and NIC. Areas of expertise: • Employment taxes • PAYE and National Insurance

Glyn Fullelove

BA (Hons), CTA (Fellow), ACA. Council member since 2014. Senior technical writer, Croner-i. Former chair Technical Committee. Former Group Corporate Services director, Informa PLC and previously held senior finance roles at UK multi-nationals including Williams plc, Invensys plc and Misys plc. Areas of expertise: • International corporate taxes • Digital taxes • M&A Taxation • Treasury Taxation • Tax Risk Management

Director of Public Policy

Ellen Milner

[email protected]
Ellen joined the CIOT as Director of Public Policy in April 2023. With a background in corporate tax, she previously worked at HMRC, with extensive experience in areas including tax policy, compliance and training, most recently as Deputy Director for Large Business London. She has also worked as Principal Private Secretary to the First Permanent Secretary.

Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG)

Head of LITRG

Victoria Todd

Victoria worked in various welfare rights roles before joining LITRG in 2004 as Welfare Rights Technical Officer. Victoria qualified as a tax technician (ATT) in 2011 and a CTA (Fellow) in 2017. In 2018, Victoria was appointed Head of LITRG. As well as overseeing the group’s work, Victoria retains technical responsibility for tax credits and universal credit. Victoria sits on several HMRC forums and is a member of the Tax Law Review Committee.

LITRG Senior Manager

Kelly Sizer

‘Kelly Sizer first joined LITRG in 2007 and returned to the staff in 2019 after a year working as a tax writer at LexisNexis. She is a CTA (Fellow), which was awarded in 2018 for her thesis on the complexities of tax-incentivised savings for the low-income population. She is a former Tax and Trusts Manager at Grant Thornton UK. -Pensions -personal tax -tax administration’

CIOT Technical Policy & Oversight Committee (TPOC) spokespeople

Chair

John Barnett

MA (Oxon) CTA (Fellow), TEP, Solicitor. Partner and Head of Private Client and Tax at Burges Salmon. Council member since 2014. Chair, Technical Committee. Member, Succession Taxes, and Capital Gains Tax and Investment Income Sub-Committees. Former member of the GAAR Interim Panel. Areas of expertise: • International Taxes • Capital Taxes • Residence and domicile • Entrepreneurs and business owners • DOTAS, GAAR and related tax-governance issues

Head of Tax Technical

Richard Wild

A qualified Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, with over 25 years’ experience in taxation, mainly in Indirect Taxes, including roles in a Big 4 litigation team, and as an Anti-Avoidance Adviser with HMRC. Richard has been the Head of the Tax Technical Team since 2015. Areas of expertise: • Indirect tax • Making Tax Digital

Director of Public Policy

Ellen Milner

[email protected]
Ellen joined the CIOT as Director of Public Policy in April 2023. With a background in corporate tax, she previously worked at HMRC, with extensive experience in areas including tax policy, compliance and training, most recently as Deputy Director for Large Business London. She has also worked as Principal Private Secretary to the First Permanent Secretary.

Business Rates Working Group

Kersten Muller

Kersten is Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal and is a real estate expert with more than 20 years of experience in the sector, including as a lead partner in Grant Thornton LLP’s Real Estate Team, and Tax Director at Deloitte Real Estate. Areas of expertise: • International structuring • Buy & sell side due diligence • Refinancing of property portfolios. • Ongoing reporting and compliance

Climate Change Working Group

Chair

Jason Collins

Areas of expertise: • All aspects of environmental taxes • Dispute resolution and tax litigation

Corporate

Adrian Rudd

Areas of expertise: • Corporate taxes • Capital gains tax • Capital allowances

Digitalisation and Agent Services

Chair

Alison Kerrey

Alison is a director in Saffery Champness’ National Tax team. She specialises in tax knowledge and policy, including engagement on behalf of CIOT and ATT with government on proposed changes to the tax system and internal policy and tax risk management issues. Currently, her particular focus is on the increasing digitisation of the tax system, including the Making Tax Digital programme.

Disputes Resolution Working Group

Chair

Hui Ling McCarthy KC

Hui Ling is King's Counsel at 11 New Square Chambers, Lincoln’s Inn, London. Her practice covers all areas of tax law, with an emphasis on corporate and international tax matters, VAT and SDLT. She is a CEDR-accredited mediator. Areas of expertise: • Corporate Tax • VAT • Dispute resolution

Employment taxes

Chair

Colin Ben Nathan

Areas of expertise: • Employment Taxes • International employment Taxes • Residence and domicile

CIOT Technical Officer

Matthew Brown

Matthew Brown is a Technical Officer for the CIOT’s Employment Taxes Committee and Owner Managed Business Committee. Matthew previously worked for Capita Assistance and started his tax career at Barclays Personal Tax Service. Areas of expertise: • Employment Taxes • PAYE and National Insurance Contributions • Taxation of benefits-in-kind • Expenses and Termination payments • Taxation of pensions and pension contributions • Taxation of sole traders and small partnerships

EU and Human Rights Working Group

Jeremy Woolf

Areas of expertise: • Negligence • Judicial review • European Community law • Human rights law

International Tax

Chair

David Murray

Areas of expertise: • International Tax Policy • Digitalisation • Digital Taxes • BEPs • Documentation/ compliance requirements • Bilateral/ multilateral agreements for information exchange • Double taxation and Tax treaties

Management of Taxes

Helen Adams

CTA FCA TEP. Helen is a Principal in BDO LLP’s Tax Dispute Resolution team & is the firm’s Tax Policy Lead. She helps resolve complex UK tax enquiries and investigations and advises individuals and companies on making disclosures of UK tax irregularities. Helen also monitors tax policy developments and their potential impacts on taxpayers and advisers. Areas of expertise: • Tax investigations & enquiries • Voluntary (unprompted) disclosures to HMRC • HMRC powers & penalties.

Owner managed business

Chair

Pete Miller

Areas of expertise: • Transaction in securities rules • Reorganisations and Reconstructions • Patent Box & intangible assets • HMRC clearances • Disguised remuneration

Private Client UK

Danny Clifford

Danny is a chartered accountant and CTA. He heads up Ensors’ tax team. He is a member of HMRC’s Agents’ Trusts and Estates Advisory Group and was a member of the Country Landowners Association (CLA) Taxation sub-committee. Specialisms: • Expertise in Trusts and Estates • Expertise in Capital Taxes • Expertise in non-domiciles / UK residence and non-residence tax issues

Private Client International

Emma Chamberlain OBE

Areas of expertise: • Private client advisory • Trust advice • Foreign domiciliaries • Inheritance tax • Residential property

Property taxation

Marc Selby

Marc is head of Tax at Laytons. Marc has a busy consultancy practice, in which he advises other professionals, including lawyers and accountants, as well as Laytons’ clients, on the tax aspects of corporate and property transactions. He is a member of the VAT Practitioners Group and the Stamp Taxes Practitioners Group.

VAT and Indirect taxes

Chair

Gabby Donald

Gabby is an indirect taxes specialist with more than 18 years of experience. An Indirect Tax Director at KPMG, Gabby specialises in VAT within the financial services sector often dealing with clients with cross border operating models, complex partial exemption and VAT liability issues. Current chair of the Indirect Taxes Committee and Committee member since 2015

Excise duties

Alan Powell

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Scottish Taxes

Sean Cockburn

CTA ATT TEP Sean is a director in Mazars’ Private Client tax advisory team, working with families, entrepreneurs, trustees and others to provide advice on a range of UK and international tax issues. He is a former chair of the CIOT’s Scotland Hub committee and was appointed chair of the Scottish Technical Committee in June 2022.

Chris Thorpe

Christopher Thorpe Chris is a Fellow of the CIOT and full member of STEP, having originally qualified as a barrister (non-practising). He joined the technical team at CIOT in January 2022 and his responsibilities as technical officer include the Digital & Agent Services, Scottish Taxes and Private Client (International) committees. Areas of expertise: Income tax Capital taxes (capital gains and inheritance taxes) Trusts Agriculture Compliance

Welsh Taxes

Lakshmi Narain

Areas of expertise: • Property related Tax Issues for individuals, partnerships and companies • Land Transaction Tax • Stamp Duty Land Tax

Richie Tout

Areas of expertise: • Employee share incentives and tax valuations • Private company tax advisory work • M&A tax advice

External Relations team

Head of External Relations

George Crozier

George is Head of External Relations for the Chartered Institute of Taxation, for the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT, the CIOT's sister body) and for the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG, an initiative of the CIOT). He manages the Institute's relations with the media as well as with politicians, opinion formers and other relevant bodies. He has worked for the Institute since 2009, having previously worked as a speechwriter and senior communications adviser for a major political party. He tweets on tax matters at @GeorgeTweetsTax.

External Relations Officer

Jamie Presland

Jamie is a communications professional with more than 10 years' experience in external relations and journalism. He joined the CIOT in 2023 following three years in the press office of a utility company. He has also worked as a journalist covering a wide range of issues for several publications in North and South-East England.

Scotland External Relations & Branch Support Manager

Chris Young

Chris joined the Institute in 2016 to manage its Scottish media and political engagement. Prior to this, he worked for one of Scotland’s largest independent public relations and public affairs consultancies. His experience also includes a spell working in Washington, D.C. and as a policy adviser supporting the administration of a major Scottish local authority.

External Relations Officer

Ghazaleh Pourzadi

Ghazaleh joined the CIOT in 2023, having previously worked at the Local Government Association, Conservative Councillors’ Association, for an MP and at a number of international charities. She has many years of experience working for both local and national governments and holds a Master's degree in International Relations with Law.