Recommendations for simplifying tax for individuals
Robin Williamson examines the Office of Tax Simplification’s key recommendations for simplifying tax from its Taxation and Life Events report – he covers childbirth, working life, saving for a pension, helping others and tax education and awareness.
The report begins at the very start of the life cycle, with the tax complexities surrounding childbirth, where the advent of the high income child benefit charge (HICBC) has been accompanied by a fall, year by year, in the numbers claiming child benefit, amounting to about 600,000 since 2012. The fall may well be due to families where at least one individual has earnings within the HICBC income bracket deciding to avoid HICBC altogether by simply not claiming child benefit. But the danger with this course of action is that child benefit is linked to certain national insurance entitlements – the claimant can get national insurance credits for periods when they are not working until the child reaches 12 years of age, and claiming child benefit ensures that the child is sent a national insurance number when they are 16. These entitlements are lost if the benefit is not claimed.
Continue reading
This content is not freely available. To access 'Recommendations for simplifying tax for individuals' you need to be one of the following:
-
ACA student
-
This content is available to ACA students. If you want to start the ACA qualification there are several routes you can take
-
Business and Finance Professional
-
An internationally recognised designation and professional status from the ICAEW.
-
ICAEW member
-
Gain access to world-leading information resources, guidance and local networks. 98% of the best global brands rely on ICAEW chartered accountants.
-
Tax Faculty
-
Expert guidance and a wealth of technical and practical resources and support you can trust to keep you on top of tax.