UK200Group member responds to FSB call for budget to simplify taxes
A member of the UK200Group of independent accountancy and law firms has responded to a call by the Federation of Small Businesses that the chancellor should simplify taxes in the Spring Budget.
In its submission to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in advance of the 2016 Spring Budget Statement, the FSB has called on the Government to strengthen small business confidence by clearly and consistently backing enterprise.
The chancellor recently spoke to FSB members stating that he would back small business. The FSB has now called on Mr Osborne to use his budget to do just that – to boost business confidence, to deliver fundamental reform of business rates and to simplify the tax system. One option proposed by the FSB is to create a simplified small business tax regime centred on a single tax payment. This would provide a proxy of a business’s overall tax liability, essentially combining many taxes into one and removing the complexity of applying a number of different taxes, as is the case under the current system
Duncan Montgomery, tax partner at UK200Group member firm Whittingham Riddell said:
“Taking some of the stress out of the tax system would be great for many; micro business already has VAT exemption or for medium sized margin schemes and cash accounting help. Moving to a proxy system like the FSB suggests would likely only add another option as otherwise business sectors would lose out materially if, for example, they don’t occupy premises. So our preference is for simplification of existing systems and higher registration thresholds, not single proxy taxes.”