Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne published the results of the 2015 spending review alongside the Autumn Statement on Wednesday, including details of HMRC’s budget over the course of this Parliament (see www.bit.ly/21hx7it). Among the key points were:
HMRC chief executive Lin Homer welcomed the chancellor’s plans, saying: ‘This settlement will enable HMRC to become more highly skilled and more cost-effective as it transforms into one of the most modern and digitally advanced tax authorities in the world. The tax system will be streamlined and customer service improved through better use of data ... while increasing the extra tax collected.’
However, not everyone was as enthusiastic. A C Mole & Sons tax partner, Paul Aplin OBE, tweeted: ‘If businesses have to report results to HMRC “at least quarterly” via digital tax accounts by 2020, admin burdens will significantly increase.’ He dismissed the assertion in the chancellor’s ‘blue book’ that the settlement would save business £400m by 2019/20 as ‘pure fantasy’.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne published the results of the 2015 spending review alongside the Autumn Statement on Wednesday, including details of HMRC’s budget over the course of this Parliament (see www.bit.ly/21hx7it). Among the key points were:
HMRC chief executive Lin Homer welcomed the chancellor’s plans, saying: ‘This settlement will enable HMRC to become more highly skilled and more cost-effective as it transforms into one of the most modern and digitally advanced tax authorities in the world. The tax system will be streamlined and customer service improved through better use of data ... while increasing the extra tax collected.’
However, not everyone was as enthusiastic. A C Mole & Sons tax partner, Paul Aplin OBE, tweeted: ‘If businesses have to report results to HMRC “at least quarterly” via digital tax accounts by 2020, admin burdens will significantly increase.’ He dismissed the assertion in the chancellor’s ‘blue book’ that the settlement would save business £400m by 2019/20 as ‘pure fantasy’.