HMRC has responded to a report published by the Treasury Committee that urged it to carry out a ‘comprehensive review’ of current tax reliefs.
The Treasury Committee hoped that a review into all tax reliefs would help to ‘ensure any areas vulnerable to abuse’ were identified, while also helping to improve scrutiny in regard to how tax reliefs impact the public purse.
The Committee found that only 365 out of more than 1,180 active tax reliefs have been costed by HMRC. From the 2025/26 financial year onwards, cross-party MPs suggested that HMRC publish costings for all tax reliefs.
Responding to the Treasury Committee’s request, HMRC said that carrying out a review of all tax reliefs ‘would not be the best use of resources’, and that a number of the recommendations were already being delivered by existing processes.
Commenting on the matter, Harriet Baldwin, Chair of the Treasury Committee, said: ‘Our tax system is too complicated. It is disheartening to learn that the taxman has no plans to even measure the cost of benefit of hundreds of different tax reliefs – something that would help ministers simplify the tax system and target growth.’
03/11/2023
View all >
16/05/2024
300,000 file tax returns in the first week
Almost 300,000 self assessment taxpayers filed their return in the first week of the new tax year, HMRC has revealed.
READ MORE
Shortfall in pension savings of £119,000
UK adults face a significant shortfall in their pension savings at retirement compared to what they wanted to retire on, according to research from Standard Life
£51 million in phone funding for HMRC
The government has announced an extra £51 million in new funding to bring HMRC’s phoneline service back up to the published target of 85% of calls to its advisers being answered.
Sign up to keep in touch to receive our latest news and industry updates.
* *
Yes, I would like to receive email updates providing me with the latest finance news, advice guides and details of future events.