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9am Lowdown

9am Lowdown: GT criticises ‘punishingly complex’ tax system

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20th Oct 2016
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Good morning and welcome to Thursday’s 9am Lowdown.

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GT criticises ‘punishingly complex’ tax system

Grant Thornton is among the signatories of business leaders who have written to The Times arguing that the tax system is “punishingly complex”.

The letter states that the tax system is “out of kilter with modern economy” and is one of the reasons why start-ups struggle because it hinders growth and trust “through unnecessary complexity or perceived unfairness”.

In the letter, the business leaders suggest the vote to leave the EU presents an opportunity for change. Grant Thornton were joined in criticising the tax system as a “daunting labyrinth” by a group of entrepreneurs, including Luke Johnson, the venture capital investor who built up Pizza Express.

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EC relaunches corporate tax proposals

The Guardian reports that the European commission will relaunch proposals to “create an overarching corporation tax regime across all member states”.

These proposals are designed to stop multinationals from shifting profits from one tax regime to another, utilised by companies such as Apple and Starbucks. The proposed legislation states it will ensure “business profits are taxed in the jurisdiction where value is actually created”.

The proposed legislation would be introduced in two parts, one addressing the corporate tax base, and the second, the common consolidated corporate tax base.  When these proposals were originally launched in 2011, it faced resistance from the UK and Ireland.

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Couples snub marriage allowance 

“Less than a quarter of couples eligible for marriage tax allowance are bothering to claim it,” reads the BBC headline this morning.

The marriage allowance has only been claimed by 1m couples, despite 4.2m couples being eligible. Those who qualify for the allowance can back date a claim, which means they could receive £432.

Urging people to take up the allowance, a HMRC spokesman told the BBC it “takes less than five minutes”. 

Replies (3)

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Head of woman
By Rebecca Cave
20th Oct 2016 09:53

It may take less than 5 minutes to claim the marriage allowance but it takes a good deal longer to sort out the mess that HMRC make of the tax calculation after a claim.

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Replying to Rebecca Cave:
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By MM Bookkeeping Services
20th Oct 2016 10:55

taxwriter wrote:

It may take less than 5 minutes to claim the marriage allowance but it takes a good deal longer to sort out the mess that HMRC make of the tax calculation after a claim.


Everything associated with HMRC takes ages to sort out after they have made a mess of things. Why don't they appoint accountants to run HMRC? Would make sense to me.
Thanks (1)
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By ruth.julian
20th Oct 2016 13:46

The tax system is overly complex, HMRC staff can't keep up with the changes and historical overhangs, so how can the accounting and tax profession be expected to keep up? As to simplifying the UK tax system - see the comments on the Scottish administration's proposals!

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