The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published the terms of reference for its two latest reviews, announced at the Autumn Statement, covering stamp duty on paper share transactions and VAT.
For the review of stamp duty, the OTS will consider:
the interrelationship between stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) and stamp duty on shares;
situations where reliefs are administered by way of adjudication, such as group relief;
situations where the consideration is uncertain or contingent;
specific situations, such as company purchases of own shares or demutualisations, or where stamp duty may currently be paid in contemplation of a sale;
the position of chargeable assets other than shares or land, such as partnership interests and certain debt securities which have equity characteristics;
transitional issues relating to existing stampable documents which have not yet been stamped or extant transactions in relation to which no stampable document yet exists;
in relation to any possible replacement stamp duty (e.g. by way of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) or SDRT):
o how this could operate electronically;
o tax administration issues such as returns, interest and penalties;
o how to preserve effective registration requirements;
non-tax legislation which refers to stamp duty;
the position of company registrars and shareholder voting rights.
The review will not cover any aspects of SDLT. The OTS will report in the summer of 2017.
For the review of VAT, the OTS will consider:
issues around setting the VAT registration threshold either higher or lower than at present;
the extent to which the definitions of the types of supply which are currently exempt, reduced or zero-rated fit the modern context, or create complexity;
practicalities around having a more widely available formal ruling system for businesses uncertain of a particular VAT treatment, for example in relation to the transfer of a going concern (TOGC);
the potential for simplifying partial exemption, the option to tax and the capital goods scheme, with a focus on smaller businesses;
special accounting schemes;
general administration of VAT, including the penalty regime and the appeals process;
opportunities for aligning VAT more with other taxes (or vice versa) as part of making tax digital; and
the relative impact of the issues identified on businesses of different sizes or in different sectors.
The review will not include a fundamental reassessment of VAT rates. The OTS will report in the autumn of 2017.
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published the terms of reference for its two latest reviews, announced at the Autumn Statement, covering stamp duty on paper share transactions and VAT.
For the review of stamp duty, the OTS will consider:
the interrelationship between stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) and stamp duty on shares;
situations where reliefs are administered by way of adjudication, such as group relief;
situations where the consideration is uncertain or contingent;
specific situations, such as company purchases of own shares or demutualisations, or where stamp duty may currently be paid in contemplation of a sale;
the position of chargeable assets other than shares or land, such as partnership interests and certain debt securities which have equity characteristics;
transitional issues relating to existing stampable documents which have not yet been stamped or extant transactions in relation to which no stampable document yet exists;
in relation to any possible replacement stamp duty (e.g. by way of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) or SDRT):
o how this could operate electronically;
o tax administration issues such as returns, interest and penalties;
o how to preserve effective registration requirements;
non-tax legislation which refers to stamp duty;
the position of company registrars and shareholder voting rights.
The review will not cover any aspects of SDLT. The OTS will report in the summer of 2017.
For the review of VAT, the OTS will consider:
issues around setting the VAT registration threshold either higher or lower than at present;
the extent to which the definitions of the types of supply which are currently exempt, reduced or zero-rated fit the modern context, or create complexity;
practicalities around having a more widely available formal ruling system for businesses uncertain of a particular VAT treatment, for example in relation to the transfer of a going concern (TOGC);
the potential for simplifying partial exemption, the option to tax and the capital goods scheme, with a focus on smaller businesses;
special accounting schemes;
general administration of VAT, including the penalty regime and the appeals process;
opportunities for aligning VAT more with other taxes (or vice versa) as part of making tax digital; and
the relative impact of the issues identified on businesses of different sizes or in different sectors.
The review will not include a fundamental reassessment of VAT rates. The OTS will report in the autumn of 2017.
