Isle Of Man Has Made No Decisions On Streamlining Tax Relief System

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

15 February 2006

The Isle of Man's Treasury Minister, Allan Bell has assured residents of the Island that the government has taken no decisions in respect of planned changes to the jurisdiction’s system of personal income tax reliefs.

Mr Bell was responding to the high volume of submissions received by the Income Tax Division as part of the government's consultation on income tax relief, in which he noted that much of the comment has followed the "erroneous interpretation" that Treasury intends to abolish certain or all of the tax reliefs, particularly with regard to apparent plans to abolish mortgage interest tax relief.

The consultation document states that it has been Tynwald policy since 2000 that: “Deductions from income will be simplified to leave only those which either secure the elements that are essential to quality of life or encourage personal enterprise such as housing costs, child care and business start-ups.”

Commenting on the matter, Mr Bell stated: "I can assure the people of the Isle of Man that no policy decisions have been taken yet in respect of the tax relief system for individuals."

The Treasury Minister added that nonetheless: "We are carrying out a policy commitment via this consultation to review and possibly update the system."

As a result of the high volume of submissions received from the public, the Treasury has elected to extend the deadline for responses from 17 February to 10 March.

"I would encourage everyone who takes an interest to make their view heard by responding to the consultation, and hope that the extra time will allow them to do that," added Mr Bell.

Recommended