The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published an online survey and a call for evidence to seek views on tax as it impacts on business.
The OTS is interested in the everyday experience of business owners and managers as they engage with tax throughout the lifecycle, from start-up and registration, through calculating and paying tax, to business closure/transfer.
The review will focus mainly on smaller businesses, including self-employed individuals. It follows an earlier business lifecycle report on areas such as raising capital and disposing of a business.
Small and medium-sized businesses employed 16 million people and paid £155 billion in tax in 2017/18. However, the inherent complexity and challenges faced by smaller businesses means that some find tax and other regulatory requirements difficult to manage. The review aims to identify ways to make tax simpler, fairer and better for those businesses.
The OTS wants to hear directly from businesses as well as professional advisers and representative bodies about which parts of the tax system are particularly complex and hard to get right and to hear any suggestions for improvements.
Responses to the call for evidence can be sent to ots@ots.gov.uk. The deadline for responses is 7 December 2018.
