Osborne in bonfire of tax code
GEORGE Osborne will today launch an independent body charged with stripping the fat from Britain’s bloated tax code.
The new Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) will advise the chancellor on how to simplify the tax system for businesses and individuals, in keeping with the coalition’s aim of proving the UK?is “open for business”.
John Whiting, the former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner and chair of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, will become an unpaid tax director at the OTS, while ex-Tory MP Michael Jack will chair the body.
Last night,?Whiting told City A.M. he wanted the body to reduce the “administrative burden” on firms.
He added: “This is a real commitment to simplify tax, and it’s clearly very welcome. It’s good to see that the government’s pledge to simplify the tax code has not been forgotten.”
The OTS will identify areas of complexity and offer publicly-available advice on how to simplify them, but the chancellor will still have the final say when it comes to setting taxes.
Initially, the OTS will investigate the regime for small businesses, including IR35 rules for the self-employed. It will try to find ways of reducing reliefs, allowances and exemptions, which now number some 400. Interim findings will be published in the Autumn with a full report ahead of next year’s Budget.