Fifth UK Tax Law Rewrite Bill Introduced Into Parliament

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

08 December 2008

The Corporation Tax Bill, the fifth bill produced by the Tax Law Rewrite project which rewrites United Kingdom direct tax law, was introduced into Parliament by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms on Friday.

In a written statement Timms said:

"This is the Tax Law Rewrite project's fifth bill and is the first of two which will rewrite substantially the whole of the legislation relating to corporation tax. This bill maintains the Tax Law Rewrite project's high standards in making tax legislation significantly easier to use. This would not have been possible without the expertise, time and commitment of all those involved in commenting on the provisions during consultation and I would like to thank them and the members of the Tax Law Rewrite project's Steering and Consultative Committees for their invaluable help in making the project's work such a success.

The bill was published in draft on February 22, 2008 for consultation and a response document reporting on the outcome of that consultation was published on August 22 this year.

The statement also says that the bill has wide support amongst the tax community and rewrites the law without changing its general effect. According to the Treasury, the key features of the project are:

• clearer, more logical structure for tax legislation;
• use of plain language and other reader aids;
• no alteration of main tax policies;
• some minor policy changes, where these further improve the current legislation;
• full consultation to agreed timetables with interested parties; and
• streamlined Parliamentary procedures for enacting "rewrite bills".

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