Our prospective tax system

The Autumn Statement is set to be an important event. We have a new Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer with a potentially different slant on economic policy than their predecessors. There is also the need to deal with the impact of Brexit.

On top of that we have HMRC proposing a number of short term and long term changes to our tax system. Over the summer, HMRC issued over 30 consultation documents. Many of these are technical in nature but there are some big themes being aired. Chief among these are the proposals related to the Making Tax Digital project. Six of the consultation documents cover different aspects of the project at the heart of which lies the desire to allow all personal and business taxpayers to engage with HMRC online and for taxpayers to see up to date and accurate information on their tax bills throughout each tax year.

Three of the consultation documents contain proposals to tackle the hidden economy. In 2013/14, the hidden economy 'tax gap' was £6.2 billion and HMRC are tasked with reducing the size of that gap. One of the consultations proposes that access to some business services or licences should be dependent on businesses being registered for tax.

We will, of course, try to ensure you are kept up to date with tax changes that may impact upon you and your business.