Steps to modernise UK tax system

At the Autumn Budget 2021, it was announced that there would be a dedicated day this Autumn where the government would set out further plans to continue building a modern, simple and effective tax system. This ‘day’ was on 30 November 2021, and referred to by HMRC as the aptly named, Tax Administration and Maintenance Day.

A number of documents were published including:

• An update on reforms to Small Brewers Relief.
• A technical consultation setting out further detail on the conclusions to the government’s review of business rates.
• A report on Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs, providing further details on announcements made at the Budget which included refocusing relief in the UK, targeting abuse, and supporting innovation by expanding qualifying expenditure to capture cloud and data costs.
• A Call for Evidence on reforming registration for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA) to give taxpayers a better understanding of their tax obligations and support available to them.
• Publishing a summary of responses to the Call for Evidence on the Tax Administration Framework Review (TAFR), including plans to reform several areas of the tax administrations system to simplify and modernise it.
• A Call for Evidence on the role umbrella companies play in the labour market to improve our understanding of the sector.
• Publishing the first five-year review of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) launched in March 2021 to examine the effectiveness of the OTS.
• A consultation on potential changes to the Stamp Duty Land Tax reliefs for mixed-property and multiple dwellings to ensure they operate fairly and to reduce the scope for misuse.