History of  TOP:

By way of background; TOP was launched as a pilot scheme by the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) in April 2001 to provide free professional help on personal tax to older people on low incomes who could not otherwise afford to pay for independent advice. The launch was funded by the CIOT and the Nuffield Foundation. The increasing complexity and opacity of the tax system coupled with a fear, however misplaced, of the Inland Revenue made it difficult, sometimes impossible, for older people to understand their rights and obligations or challenge the Revenue.

The service is provided by volunteers from the tax profession running surgeries at appropriate venues such as Age Concerns. Eligible clients can book an appointment via our national callcentre. (By eligible, we mean broadly over sixty and with a household income of up to £15000 a year.) As well as addressing the tax worries and problems of our clients, the advisers are also charged with referring and signposting clients to statutory and voluntary agencies when they perceive a non-tax issue.

Since April 2004, TOP has been run by Tax Volunteers (TV), a registered charity, as an independent company limited by guarantee, but retains close links with LITRG who acts as the campaigning arm to achieve systemic improvement and change within both Revenue and Government, armed with the evidence which TOP acquires from its client interviews. TV is funded by the CIOT through LITRG, the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT), the Big Lottery Fund and Central Government. It remains, however, completely independent of its supporters and funders in order to provide impartial advice and advocacy for the unrepresented older person.

Clients may make contact themselves directly or be referred by other agencies e.g. CABx, MPs constituency offices, Age Concerns, the Pension Service. All initial contact throughout the UK is to the national callcentre in Dorset on a lo-call helpline, 0845 601 3321 or 01308 488066. From there, clients are directed to the most appropriate and convenient form of help. Problems range from incomprehension of their tax affairs causing deep anxiety and self assessment complications to cases where thousands of pounds of under- or overpaid tax are at stake. Whatever it is, TOP undertakes to see it through to a fair and just solution.