The body responsible for collecting a newly devolved tax is to be asked at Holyrood to explain how a telecoms contract valued at £66 million doubled in price before being cancelled early.
Registers of Scotland will be responsible for collecting stamp duty tax in Scotland from 2015, under new powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Three months after Registers of Scotland was officially appointed as Scotland's new tax collectors, public spending watchdog Audit Scotland found "significant weaknesses" in its management of information and communication technology (ICT) contracts.
Registers of Scotland paid out £112 million after it reached an agreement with BT in 2004 for ICT provision and work to update its IT systems, even though the original cost was estimated to be £66 million.
It then terminated the contract 20 months early with £6.7 million of taxpayers' money written off.
Keeper of the Registers of Scotland Sheenagh Adams and deputy keeper and accountable officer Catriona Hardman will appear before the Scottish Parliament's Public Audit Committee.
Convener Iain Gray said that the matter is "worrying not only from the perspective of value for taxpayers' money but because Registers of Scotland is the body that will be responsible in 2015 for collecting stamp duty tax".
Speaking before the committee scrutiny, Mr Gray said: "It is the job of the Public Audit Committee to examine the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector - and this is clearly a major ICT contract where value for public money and an effective management structure were found to be wanting.
"The Scottish Government says lessons have already been learned from this contract, which will enable weaknesses and the strategic oversight of ICT investment to be better managed in future.
"We welcome that but our committee will want to hear directly from Registers of Scotland that it has learned the lessons from its contract with BT so that its ICT systems will be ready, on time, to start collecting stamp duty tax effectively and efficiently from 2015. With the Scottish Parliament assuming new tax powers, it is absolutely vital that Registers of Scotland is ready to hit the ground running."
