Treasury Committee report - Tax Reliefs

The Government Affairs team recently shared an overview of the Commons Select Treasury Committee’s report examining the tax relief system in the UK. The report was the culmination of the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into the tax relief system for businesses and individuals in the UK, and the overall impact of tax reliefs on the UK economy.

The Committee concluded that the UK’s tax system has become too ‘complicated’, and claimed that Government scrutiny of existing reliefs is inadequate which in turn has contributed to the abuse of some tax reliefs, and, in certain cases, fraud. The Committee has subsequently called on the Government to undertake a review of existing tax reliefs to identify opportunities for simplification as well as monitor for abuse.

Of note to members, the Committee has included references to the apparent abuse and fraud of the UK’s R&D relief schemes, as well as to the sunset clauses within the Enterprise Investment Scheme, throughout the report.