OTS appoints new board member

The chancellor has announced the appointment of Paul Aplin to the board of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), following the resignation of Dame Teresa Graham as board member.

The OTS was established in 2010 to provide advice to the chancellor on simplifying the UK tax system and was made a permanent, independent office of the treasury in July 2015.

Aplin is a member of HMRC’s administrative burdens advisory board and the 2018 president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He was a “highly regarded candidate” in the recent OTS board member recruitment process.

In consultation with the financial secretary to the treasury, Kathryn Cearns, OTS chair, has appointed Graham as a “board observer” in her role as chair of ABAB.

Graham was a founder member of the board and chairs HMRC’s Administrative Advisory Board.

According to the OTS legislation, it limits the number of independent board members to four, who sit alongside the chair, tax director and the treasury and HMRC representatives.

Cearns said: “I am hugely grateful to Dame Teresa for her enormously significant contribution to the OTS over the last 10 years and am delighted she will be continuing to share her wisdom and expertise as an observer.

“I am also delighted to welcome Paul as a member of the board. He brings a wealth of experience and understanding of tax and related technological developments which will broaden and deepen the expertise available to the board.”