Following the 2021 Budget announcement, on 23 March 2021, the United Kingdom published a range of tax administration and policy updates. The aim of the new proposed tax administration and policy measures is to support wider improvements in the UK tax system and include, without being limited to, the following:
- digitalization of the tax system ("Making Tax Digital") through investment in digital infrastructure;
- reduction of inheritance tax reporting requirements through simplification of reporting regulations from January 2022;
- introduction of mandatory professional indemnity insurance for all tax advisers;
- enactment of measures against promoters of tax avoidance through closing down companies that promote avoidance schemes and disqualifying their directors;
- adoption of measures to ensure that taxpayers comply with their UK tax obligations regardless of where their income or gains are made ("No Safe Havens");
- review of business rates, including the overall level of tax, revaluations, administration and billing, and alternatives to business rates;
- technical updates to the UK pension tax rules;
- implementation of a UK Emissions Trading System to replace its participation in the EU Emissions Trading System;
- introduction of new rules to prevent value shifting value added tax (VAT);
- introduction of sanctions to prohibit tobacco duty evasion and the sale of illicit tobacco;
- update of the transfer pricing requirements for UK businesses; and
- extension of the social investment tax relief sunset provision until April 2023.
Further details can be accessed here.