In a letter to the new financial secretary to the Treasury, Victoria Atkins MP, the CIOT president Susan Ball has repeated its request that the government to consider three ‘pressing issues around the administration of the tax system which also deserve to be treated as a priority … which would command wide support among both taxpayers and their advisers’:
prioritising investment in the HMRC to improve performance: ‘It is not simply that targets are being missed. Some targets are not fit for purpose even if met. For example the target for section 690 determinations (under which HMRC give an employer permission to exclude a portion of the pay of an employee who is not UK-resident from the operation of UK PAYE) is four months. That in practice means at least five months, and more likely six months, that a taxpayer will suffer double taxation, as their pay will usually be subject to withholding in the country that they are resident in during this period’;
reviewing the flagship making tax digital programme: ‘there are serious concerns that the timetable announced to achieve this is becoming unrealistic, because: the obligations that taxpayers will have under MTD are not yet clear and there remain significant technical challenges (for example the mechanics of corrections) that need to be overcome; there is limited choice of approved software available to taxpayers; and this is affecting the number of taxpayers willing to take part in the pilot, so the new approach risks being rolled out without proper piloting’; and
simplifying the tax system: ‘The UK tax system has become far too complicated for taxpayers to understand and comply with. A complicated tax system is harder to digitalise, as well as making it more challenging for HMRC to administer it effectively.’
The CIOT also repeated its request made to the new chancellor asking the government to reconsider its decision to abolish the Office of Tax Simplification. ‘If the OTS is felt to have been insufficiently effective so far, there are a range of ways in which it could be strengthened,’ Ball wrote. ‘It could be given a greater role in scrutiny of new proposals. It could take on post-enactment review of new legislation. Reforms such as these would genuinely help embed tax simplification across government.’
‘In our view the OTS has a key role to play, alongside renewed ministerial commitment and focus from Treasury/HMRC officials, in delivering the ambitious tax simplification programme that the UK needs’, she added. ‘We would encourage the new administration to resist the temptation to make major structural changes to the tax system until this programme has been carried out. Priority should be given to the development and roll-out of the single customer account based on the principles which were published in 2015.’
In a letter to the new financial secretary to the Treasury, Victoria Atkins MP, the CIOT president Susan Ball has repeated its request that the government to consider three ‘pressing issues around the administration of the tax system which also deserve to be treated as a priority … which would command wide support among both taxpayers and their advisers’:
prioritising investment in the HMRC to improve performance: ‘It is not simply that targets are being missed. Some targets are not fit for purpose even if met. For example the target for section 690 determinations (under which HMRC give an employer permission to exclude a portion of the pay of an employee who is not UK-resident from the operation of UK PAYE) is four months. That in practice means at least five months, and more likely six months, that a taxpayer will suffer double taxation, as their pay will usually be subject to withholding in the country that they are resident in during this period’;
reviewing the flagship making tax digital programme: ‘there are serious concerns that the timetable announced to achieve this is becoming unrealistic, because: the obligations that taxpayers will have under MTD are not yet clear and there remain significant technical challenges (for example the mechanics of corrections) that need to be overcome; there is limited choice of approved software available to taxpayers; and this is affecting the number of taxpayers willing to take part in the pilot, so the new approach risks being rolled out without proper piloting’; and
simplifying the tax system: ‘The UK tax system has become far too complicated for taxpayers to understand and comply with. A complicated tax system is harder to digitalise, as well as making it more challenging for HMRC to administer it effectively.’
The CIOT also repeated its request made to the new chancellor asking the government to reconsider its decision to abolish the Office of Tax Simplification. ‘If the OTS is felt to have been insufficiently effective so far, there are a range of ways in which it could be strengthened,’ Ball wrote. ‘It could be given a greater role in scrutiny of new proposals. It could take on post-enactment review of new legislation. Reforms such as these would genuinely help embed tax simplification across government.’
‘In our view the OTS has a key role to play, alongside renewed ministerial commitment and focus from Treasury/HMRC officials, in delivering the ambitious tax simplification programme that the UK needs’, she added. ‘We would encourage the new administration to resist the temptation to make major structural changes to the tax system until this programme has been carried out. Priority should be given to the development and roll-out of the single customer account based on the principles which were published in 2015.’
