The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has set out lessons learned since it was set up in 2010. A research paper published this month looks into the OTS complexity project and summarises its finding into four key principles for making sure new tax measures are as simple as possible:
• ensure the proposed tax measure meets the policy aims;
• focus the measure carefully;
• design the measure to meet the aim;
• maintain the measure properly.
It has also published a final version of their complexity index in the form of a spreadsheet, giving relative complexity scores for over 100 different parts of the UK tax system. The spreadsheet divides the tax system into 107 discrete areas, then assigns to each area values for ten different complexity factors, six for ‘intrinsic complexity’ and four for ‘impact of complexity’. According to the index, the law which scores highest for ‘impact of complexity’ (rated 10 out of 10) is the leasing of plant and machinery rules in CTA 2010 Part 9, closely followed by the loss relief rules in CTA 2010 Parts 4, 7A and the residence and domicile rules in ITEPA 2003 (both 9.4 out of 10).
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has set out lessons learned since it was set up in 2010. A research paper published this month looks into the OTS complexity project and summarises its finding into four key principles for making sure new tax measures are as simple as possible:
• ensure the proposed tax measure meets the policy aims;
• focus the measure carefully;
• design the measure to meet the aim;
• maintain the measure properly.
It has also published a final version of their complexity index in the form of a spreadsheet, giving relative complexity scores for over 100 different parts of the UK tax system. The spreadsheet divides the tax system into 107 discrete areas, then assigns to each area values for ten different complexity factors, six for ‘intrinsic complexity’ and four for ‘impact of complexity’. According to the index, the law which scores highest for ‘impact of complexity’ (rated 10 out of 10) is the leasing of plant and machinery rules in CTA 2010 Part 9, closely followed by the loss relief rules in CTA 2010 Parts 4, 7A and the residence and domicile rules in ITEPA 2003 (both 9.4 out of 10).
