| Draft fifth Bill published in tax law rewrite |
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| Friday, 22 February 2008 | |
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The Tax Law Rewrite project, which aims to modernise UK direct tax law so that it is clearer and easier to use, has published a draft of its fifth Bill.
In a written statement to Parliament the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Kennedy MP, said that a draft of the Tax Law Rewrite project's fifth Bill, the Corporation Tax Bill, is the first of two Bills which will rewrite substantially the whole of the primary legislation relating to corporation tax. “This Bill will cover the basic provisions relating to the charge to corporation tax and includes the main provisions used by companies in computing their income,” Kennedy wrote. She added that the scope of this new Bill and the timing of consultation was agreed with the project's Consultative and Steering Committees which together include the main representative bodies and other interested parties. Kennedy said it benefited from a style and presentation structure that has been developed as a result of consultation over the previous rewrite Bills. The Bill's provisions have already been the subject of extensive discussions between HM Revenue and Customs and the tax profession. The Tax Law Rewrite project aims to rewrite the UK's primary direct tax legislation so that it is clearer and easier to use, but without changing its general effect. The key features of the project are a clearer, more logical structure for tax legislation, use of plain language and other reader aids, no alteration of main tax policies, and minor policy changes, where these further improve the current legislation. The government promised full consultation with interested parties throughout the life of the project and streamlined Parliamentary procedures for enacting "rewrite Bills". The project was established in 1996 on the basis of full consultation. Since then a number of consultation papers have been published. The government said that the project's first four Acts, the Capital Allowances Act 2001, the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 and the Income Tax Act 2007 had all been well received by the tax community as a considerable and welcome improvement on the previous legislation in terms of clarity and accessibility. The project has also rewritten the PAYE Regulations in response to requests from users and representative bodies. These regulations took effect from 6 April 2004. This Bill is the start of a rewrite of the corporation tax code. It includes the basic corporation provisions including the charge to tax, accounting periods and provisions relating to company residence and provisions relating to trading and property income and income from other sources. Special provisions will be included for companies affecting the computation of income, such as those for loan relationships, derivative contracts and intangibles, as well as provisions governing particular types of expenditure, for example, expenditure on research and development and films. A high level Steering Committee, chaired by Lord Newton of Braintree, oversees the project. A Consultative Committee, consisting of representative bodies and other interested parties, also meets on a regular basis to consider issues and the draft legislation in more detail. Copies of the draft Bill, like all the Tax Law Rewrite project publications, can be obtained free of charge from Jackie Bartlett, Tax Law Rewrite Project, HM Revenue & Customs, Room 826 Bush House, South West Wing, Strand, London, WC2B 4RD, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Tel: 020 7438 7606. Comments on the draft Bill should be sent to Bartlett by 23 May 2008. HMRC has also published a consultation stage Impact Assessment (IA) on the costs and benefits arising from the new rewrite Bill and said it would welcome any comments. Related articles
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