tiintax

So this rumour about the coalition running out of ideas and running out of steam, are they actually true, do we think?  I mean, there are “only” 68 open consultations across government listed on the Gov.uk website today.  68 sounds like a lot, but in comparison with other times I’ve checked it seems, well, peanuts.

The open consultations from HMRC (in order of closure date) are:

21 Jun 2014    Implementing a capital gains tax charge on non-residents
27 Jun 2014    Tax-Free Childcare: consultation on childcare account provision
29 Jul 2014     Direct recovery of debts
29 Aug 2014   Inheritance tax: A fairer way of calculating trust charges

and again, I go, where are the consultations linked to Budget announcements?

Wait a minute.  Let’s have a quick look at what was announced in the Budget (taking the ones that are costed in chapter 2 here and reproduced below the cut): how many of these are new?  How many of them are planned to be in next year’s Finance Bill?  How many of them would, therefore, we expect to find the subject of consultation over the summer?  As I said in an earlier post, are we just not bothering to consult any more?

Interesting times…

The following policy decisions are included in this chapter:

• Savings tax: abolish the 10% rate and extend the 0% band to £5,000

• Individual Savings Accounts: equalise stocks and shares and cash limits and increase to £15,000

• Individual Savings Accounts: including Peer to Peer lending

• Individual Savings Accounts: including retail bonds

• Pensions: reduce withdrawal tax rate from 55% to the marginal income tax rate

• Personal allowance increase and transferrable tax allowance increase

• Annual Investment Allowance: double to £500,000 until December 2015

• Research and development tax credits: increase payable element for small and medium sized enterprises

• Carbon Price Floor reform: limit disparity between UK and EU to £18 per tonne of carbon dioxide

• Combined Heat and Power: relief for onsite generation

• Climate Change Levy: metallurgical and mineralogical exemption

• Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and Capital Gains Tax reinvestment relief: make permanent

• Venture Capital Trusts: return of capital

• Venture capital reliefs: preventing tax relief on companies already receiving specific DECC subsidies

• Social Investment Tax Relief

• Theatre productions: tax relief

• Air Passenger Duty: abolish bands C and D

• Alcohol duty

• Tobacco duty: continue 2% escalator from 2015-16

• Bingo Duty: reducing rate to 10%

• Machine games duty: increasing the rate on B2 machines to 25%

• Motoring tax: changes to Vehicle Excise Duty and capital allowances

• Capital allowances: energy and water efficient technologies

• Aggregates Levy: freeze in 2014-15

• Landfill Tax and Landfill Communities Fund: uprate and reform

• Office for Tax Simplification: employee share schemes

• Cultural Gifts Scheme: extension

• Accelerated payments: extension to disclosed tax avoidance schemes and the General Anti-Abuse Rule

• Avoidance schemes using the transfer of corporate profits

• Direct recovery of debts

• Oil and gas: changes to offshore chartering

• Company car tax: continuing to increase by 2 percentage points in 2017-18 and 2018-19

• Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings: new bands between £500,000 and £2 million

• Tax credits debt: increasing recovery rate

• National Savings and Investments bonds for people aged 65 or over

• Voluntary National Insurance contributions

• Public Service Pensions: revaluation

• Right to Buy

• European Economic Area migrant benefits: restricting claims and increasing compliance checks

• Business rates for Enterprise Zones

• Support for mortgage interest: 12 month extension

• Seven waiting days for Employment and Support Allowance claimants

• Increase in the Carer’s Allowance Earnings Limit

• Business rates relief for flooded properties

• Tax-Free Childcare