1,000 UK Tax Reliefs Under Review

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

11 November 2010

More than one thousand tax reliefs are under review by the UK's Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) as the coalition government battles to make the country's tax system more user-friendly.

The OTS has drawn up a list of 1,042 relief measures that are currently in place in the UK tax system for businesses and individuals, across all the taxes administered by HM Revenue and Customs. This is the first time such comprehensive data has been documented.

The Treasury said: “The 1,042 reliefs demonstrate the challenge facing the OTS, which has also today published details of the review criteria and methodology which will be used to evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of the reliefs, before reporting back later in the year.”

John Whiting, OTS Tax Director, remarked of the list: “I am sure some people will be surprised by the sheer number of reliefs in today’s tax system. Many have a clear and highly valued benefit so clearly we would not seek to change those. Others, however, may simply no longer be used, or are too complex and burdensome to be properly effective, so it is these that I want my team to focus on.”

The government-funded OTS team includes secondees from a variety of tax and accountancy firms. They will use the review criteria, together with their experience and expertise, to provide independent advice on the reliefs, and make recommendations to the Chancellor on ways to simplify the tax system.

The Treasury has also published details of two Consultative Committees, one for the reliefs project and one for the parallel small business tax review.

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