The CIOT has responded to the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) Finance Committee’s inquiry into the implementation of the Wales Act 2014, looking particularly at the two devolved taxes administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA): land transaction tax (LTT) and landfill disposals tax (LDT). The CIOT notes that:
both LTT and LDT were developed through highly collaborative processes involving extensive consultation which are reflected in their final design and successful implementation;
LTT should be consistent, wherever possible, with stamp duty land tax legislation, instilling familiarity with common concepts for practitioners and businesses;
without a separate DOTAS regime in Wales, WRA’s awareness of potential loss of devolved taxes through avoidance is more dependent on strategies for assessing tax risk and from exchanges of information between HMRC and the WRA; and
in relation to the Welsh rates of income tax – as income tax is only partially devolved, with allowances and reliefs all decided at a UK level, scope for a fundamentally different approach to taxation is limited, creating complexity and additional compliance burdens not only for individuals but also for employers and pension providers.
The CIOT has responded to the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) Finance Committee’s inquiry into the implementation of the Wales Act 2014, looking particularly at the two devolved taxes administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA): land transaction tax (LTT) and landfill disposals tax (LDT). The CIOT notes that:
both LTT and LDT were developed through highly collaborative processes involving extensive consultation which are reflected in their final design and successful implementation;
LTT should be consistent, wherever possible, with stamp duty land tax legislation, instilling familiarity with common concepts for practitioners and businesses;
without a separate DOTAS regime in Wales, WRA’s awareness of potential loss of devolved taxes through avoidance is more dependent on strategies for assessing tax risk and from exchanges of information between HMRC and the WRA; and
in relation to the Welsh rates of income tax – as income tax is only partially devolved, with allowances and reliefs all decided at a UK level, scope for a fundamentally different approach to taxation is limited, creating complexity and additional compliance burdens not only for individuals but also for employers and pension providers.
