Office of Tax Simplification: new board member announced

The Chancellor has appointed Professor Judith Freedman CBE to the Board of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), in succession to Paul Johnson CBE.

OTS Chair, Kathryn Cearns OBE said:

I am delighted to welcome Judith to the OTS Board. She will bring invaluable academic expertise, including a long-standing interest in tax simplification. She will strengthen the ability of the OTS to provide the government with advice on how to simplify the tax system.

I would also like to place on record our appreciation for all the input and advice that Paul Johnson has provided during his time as a member of the Board.

Further Information

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 HM Treasury in July 2015. It was put on a statutory footing in the Finance Act 2016.

Judith Freedman is Pinsent Masons Professor of Taxation Law and Policy at Oxford University. She was a joint founder of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation and contributed to the Mirrlees Review on Reforming the Tax System for the 21st Century. She is General Editor of British Tax Review, chair of the Tax Law Review Committee of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and on the Advisory Group of the Tax Administration Research Centre.

The members of the OTS Board are now:

• Kathryn Cearns OBE (Chair)
• Bill Dodwell (Tax Director)
• Teresa Graham DBE (Senior Independent Director)
• John Cullinane
• Kathleen Russ
• Professor Judith Freedman CBE
• Beth Russell (HM Treasury)
• Ruth Stanier OBE (HMRC)

Press enquiries only please contact Julie Gillespie, OTS Press Officer 03000 585028