While most tax advisors would secretly admit that complex tax rules are good (it keeps us busy), there was much outcry when the Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement the abolition of the Office of Tax Simplification.

However, one development that was announced and is expected to simplify matters is the consolidation of the current two-tier research and development (R&D) tax relief system, commonly known as small and medium-size enterprise (SME) and R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC), into one yet to be named RDEC-like scheme.