Tax simplification team publish initial recommendations
An interim report looking at a small selection of Britain鈥檚 1042 tax reliefs has been published today by the Office of Tax Simplification.
An interim report looking at a small selection of Britain鈥檚 1042 tax reliefs has been published today by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS).
皇冠体育app report, a prelude to the final report due in the spring, analyses 13 tax reliefs and measures them against the review criteria evaluating their effectiveness and relevance.聽 Provisional recommendations have been made as to whether a relief should either be retained in its current state, simplified to ease administrative burdens, or be abolished altogether, with the aim of testing the review criteria to ensure the approach comes up with sensible proposals.聽
John Whiting, Tax Director for the Office of Tax Simplification said:聽
This is a progress report and we are keen to hear views on how we have analysed the 13 reliefs in this report - especially thoughts on whether if we are approaching this in a way people support, focusing on reliefs that are no longer used, or are too complex and burdensome to be properly effective.
皇冠体育appre is still much to do in reviewing more reliefs before we report back to the Chancellor in full, We鈥檝e had to make some hard choices to give us a manageable list for the next stage, but we welcome feedback from those who use the tax system and ask for their thoughts and ideas on how we can simplify it further.
OTS now welcome feedback on the recommendations made so that the methodology can be adapted and applied to further reliefs for the final report, due by Budget 2011.
To enable the OTS to analyse properly and report on a meaningful number of reliefs, 74 have been identified for the next stage of the OTS鈥檚 work, with a further 75 to follow. To arrive at this list, structural reliefs, reliefs that are themselves a simplification and an integral part of the tax system, those that are already subject to Government consultations, and reliefs that are subject to international agreements, have been put to one side for the present.
Notes to Editors
-
皇冠体育app independent Office of Tax Simplification was established on 20 July 2010 to carry out reviews in order to provide expert advice to the Chancellor on options to improve and simplify the UK鈥檚 tax system.
-
皇冠体育app OTS started its work in September. It will initially take forward two reviews: simplifying tax reliefs and small business taxation. It will report to the Chancellor in advance of Budget 2011.
-
皇冠体育app interim report announced today setting out the 13 sample reliefs can be found on the .聽 皇冠体育app final report setting out recommendations for further reliefs will be submitted to the Chancellor ahead of Budget 2011.聽
-
皇冠体育appre are 1042 tax reliefs in the UK tax system.聽 A full list of tax reliefs, along with the review criteria, is published on the OTS website here.
-
皇冠体育app OTS team is led by Chairman Rt Hon Michael Jack, and Tax Director John Whiting and has a staff of 7, drawn from HM Treasury, HM Revenue & Customs and secondees from a broad range of private firms.聽 Details and biographies are available on the .
-
In addition, two 鈥楥onsultative Committees鈥� have been set up to work with the team to review suggestions and feed in views.聽 Details are available on the OTS website.
-
皇冠体育app OTS can be contacted at: [email protected]
Issued by Office of Tax Simplification Press Office
Press enquiries only please contact:
Andrew Bennett
OTS Press Officer聽
Phone: 聽020 7270 6190 / 07917 598392
Website: 聽