Business burdens package ‘broadly welcomed’ by the CIOT

The package of measures announced with the Budget that is designed to reduce administrative burdens on businesses has been broadly welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). John Whiting, Tax Policy Director at the CIOT said:

“We are encouraged by this package: there are things in here that we have been discussing with HMRC for some time and it is good to see them coming forward. A ‘one stop’ approach to helping businesses with tax questions is very sensible. We also very much support the relaunch of Working Together – something we are very committed to; our members will welcome the opportunity to participate in joint learning events with HMRC.

“We do have some concerns. On line calculators are all very well but some of the online filing requirements are in danger of pushing ahead too fast. For example, we are not yet convinced that iXBRL filing will be as easy as HMRC makes out or that all existing small businesses will be able to easily file VAT returns online by April 2011 in accordance with the Smarter Government proposals. We query whether these two measures really do reduce burdens for business.”

Notes to Editors

1) The HMRC document ‘Delivering a new relationship with business’ sets out a range of moves that HMRC is undertaking to reduce burdens and ‘Help businesses get it right’.