A probe into taxes on smaller businesses will be a key priority for the Office of Tax Simplification, as it was announced today that the body would be established on a statutory basis.
The OTS is to become a permanent independent office of HM Treasury as part of measures in the Budget, it was confirmed this afternoon.

The body will soon be starting a review of small company taxation, building on previous OTS work on small business taxation.

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There will also be a project to review the closer alignment of income tax and national insurance contributions, following work in the last Parliament. Further details will be announced shortly, HMRC officials said.

A statement from HM Revenue and Customs read: “The OTS will expand from its current staffing levels and will take on a wider tax simplification role. It will continue studying areas of the tax system on a project basis, but also look further into the implementation of its ideas to generate clear maps for simplification reform.”

John Whiting, the OTS tax director, said: “This is great news for tax simplification. Despite its small size, the OTS has established itself over the last 5 years as a credible voice for simplification, carrying out 10 simplification projects resulting in more than 400 simplification recommendations, over half of which have already been taken forward.

“Today’s announcement is confirmation that the experiment of setting up the OTS has worked and means a step change in our role. I look forward greatly to working with everyone who is interested in a simpler tax system on our new reviews – businesses, representative bodies, individual taxpayers and tax professionals, including all HMRC staff.”