OTS proposals for making calculations straightforward
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) recently published its recommendations for making corporation tax (C.T) easier in its report, ‘Simplification of the corporation tax computation’.
Thus far, little attention has been given to making C.T operate more simply for the benefit of the vast majority of companies. So, with this in mind, the OTS have made a number of suggestions to simplify the current administration of C.T for companies of all sizes. Some of their ideas could also be considered for unincorporated business taxation.
The report looks at four main issues:
- Simpler tax for smaller companies
- Aligning the tax rules more closely with accounting rules
- Simplifying tax relief for capital investment
- Issues affecting the largest companies
In 2014, the OTS outlined an important principle that C.T should be a tax on business profits arrived at after deducting all legitimate business expenses, the profits being those shown in the business accounts. There should be a minimum number of adjustments and these should be in accordance with a clear and well understood policy.
Tax should follow the accounts
This is the starting point for C.T reform because it offers smaller companies, in particular, the prospect of simpler procedures.
The company’s accounts reflect the commercial reality of its business operations. As accounts are prepared under a set of well understood accounting rules, then it is logical for tax charges to be based, as far is possible, on these accounts, with the minimum of adjustments. In practice accounts are the basis of the tax charge, so the report looks at the extent to which the calculations and decisions for tax differ from accounting rules.
For all companies, the aim of the OTS is to improve the C.T system so that it is easy to understand and operate within, and to give smaller companies the confidence to do their own tax return or ‘self-serve’ if they so choose. To help achieve this, the OTS proposes that:
- micro-companies opting to use simpler accounting principles should be taxed on their accounting profit
- micro-companies excluded from the small companies regime, the tax calculation should be simplified to require only a minimum number of essential adjustments to the accounting profit
- in future, optional cash accounting could be introduced for companies with a turnover under £150,000 to mirror the system for 1.1 million unincorporated businesses.
The principle here is ‘do it once’. If small companies have to prepare accounts, the work that they put in should be sufficient to calculate their C.T liability with only minimal additional input.
Only significant reform to the C.T rules will make a real difference to the time taken by companies on C.T administration.
The OTS report is available below:
Abolishing the need for iXBRL tagged accounts would be the first thing on my wish list. I used to prepare & submit my own accounts but since iXBRL I cannot justify the cost of the software to do this, so have to pay someone £200pa to re-type my accounts into their package.
HMRC introduced this with no valid business impact assessment & with limited publisity – apparently only about 30 businesses responded to the “consultation”