A lack of influence over new tax policy and limited resources is preventing the Office of Tax Simplification from making a significant impact on the simplification of the overly complex UK tax code, according to a discussion paper issued by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
With less than one year left of the OTS’s initial five-year fixed term, the discussion paper, written for the Tax Law Review Committee, considers whether the next government should continue with the OTS and what changes to the operation are required, to give the body more influence over tax simplification.
According to the paper, ‘the response or lack of response by government to many of the substantive changes recommended by the OTS has left an impression that the OTS is focused on administrative changes and that there is insufficient appetite in government for more radical changes to simplify the system’.
There have also been a number of serious problems which have arisen on implementation of some of the OTS’s proposals, for example in the case of the changes to small businesses’ tax calculations under the small accounting changes. The lack of OTS involvement at the implementation stage was described as particularly problematic.
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