The institute said that this was because there remains the possibility that tax changes in next week’s UK Budget could prompt Scottish Ministers to revisit their tax plans before the start of the new tax year on April 6th.

It is a situation that has been previously acknowledged by both Ministers and independent researchers in the Scottish Parliament.

In previous years, the Scottish Parliament’s tax and spending plans have been approved after the UK Budget. The process was reversed this year because the UK Budget – originally planned for November – was postponed due to the December General Election.

It means that MSPs have had to set a Budget without sight of UK tax policy proposals.

Alexander Garden, chair of the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s Scottish Technical Committee, said: “In any other year, today’s vote would mark the point that rates and bands of Scottish income tax are settled for the coming year.

“But because we are still waiting on the UK Budget, we cannot definitively rule out the possibility that changes to UK income tax policy – such as cutting tax rates or raising tax thresholds – could create a situation where Ministers feel that they have to revisit Scotland’s income tax policy with just days to go before the start of the new tax year.

“The chances of this happening may be minimal, but the fact that we are even contemplating such a scenario exposes once again the unprecedented level of uncertainty that has become the hallmark of this year’s Scottish Budget process.”