The proposed taxpayers' charter should have a statutory grounding, says the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT).
The organisation has submitted its response to the taxman's consultation A New Charter for HMRC and its Customers.
The CIOT strongly supports the idea of a charter and sees it as a necessary and important complement to the ongoing review of the Revenue's powers.
The institute firmly believes that such a document must be founded in statute, so that it has a proper basis.
CIOT president Nick Goulding commented: 'With the extensive modernisation and extension of HMRC's powers, taxpayers need a clear, accessible expression of their rights as a key part of the balancing safeguards.
'For the Charter to work, it needs to be founded — to have its vires — in legislation.'
A charter has the potential to play an important role in the way the tax system in the UK is run, by helping people understand their rights and responsibilities and to cement principles such as certainty, fairness and openness, said the CIOT.
It added that the charter could also be of benefit not only to all those who interact with HMRC, but also to the department's staff.
The charter needs to be a living document that HMRC — with guidance from a Steering Group — develop and keep up to date. It also needs to be accessible and easily understood by the unrepresented, so it must not be all in statute, added the institute.
Nick Goulding remarked: 'We are calling on the Government to press forward with the charter by including an enabling clause in the Finance Bill in 2009.'
Taxation supports a taxpayers' charter with statutory backing, and will soon be co-launching a campaign website dedicated to the matter.
