January 2019 / United Kingdom

On 17 January 2019, the Office of Tax Simplification released a discussion paper on the consequences of leveraging technology to simplify tax. The vision of the OTS, as embodied in the paper, considers the steps to empower taxpayers to sufficiently understand their tax and their obligations, and how they may benefit from advances in technology. The OTS noted that technology is already being used to facilitate online completion of tax returns through HMRC's Making Tax Digital programme.

On 29 January 2019, HM Treasury announced that the government will publish its Spring Statement 2019 on 13 March 2019.