HMRC opens consultation on devolved income tax guidance

The move comes as the Scottish Parliament prepares to set its own Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) from April 2016, as enabled by the provisions of the Scotland Act 2012.

The tax revenue will still be collected by HMRC as part of the UK-wide income tax system and applied to non-savings income.

Holyrood will be able to set a rate of SRIT from zero to any number of pence or half-pence in the pound, which will then be added to each of the main UK rate bands after ten pence in the pound has been deducted from each rate.

The 19-page guidance has gone out for consultation until 31 July 2015 and sets out “initial detail on the manner in which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will interpret some of the terms used in the sections of the Scotland Act 2012”.

It examines cases where people live, work and study in different parts of the UK and explains who will be eligible to pay the new Scottish tax.

Scottish parliamentarians, people whose primary place of residence is in Scotland, and UK residents who spend at least as many days in Scotland as elsewhere in the UK are among those eligible to pay the Scottish rate of income tax.

Scottish secretary David Mundell welcomed the progress towards rolling out the new income tax powers and called on the Scottish Government to explain at what level it would set the new tax rate.