Office for Tax Simplification’s new report, Value Added Tax: routes to simplification

value_added_tax_routes_to_simplification_print.pdf
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Attached is a copy of the Office for Tax Simplification’s new report, Value Added Tax: routes to simplification, which has just been published.

The report contains eight main recommendations which are as follows:

• The government should examine the current approach to the level and design of the VAT registration threshold, with a view to setting out a future direction of travel for the threshold, including consideration of the potential benefits of a smoothing mechanism.
  


• HMRC should maintain a programme for further improving the clarity of its guidance and its responsiveness to requests for rulings in areas of uncertainty.
  


• HMRC should consider ways of reducing the uncertainty and administrative costs for business relating to potential penalties when inaccuracies are voluntarily disclosed.
  


• HM Treasury and HMRC should undertake a comprehensive review of the reduced rate, zero-rate and exemption schedules, working with the support of the OTS.
  


• The government should consider increasing the partial exemption de minimis limits in line with inflation, and explore alternative ways of removing the need for businesses incurring insignificant amounts of input tax to carry out partial exemption calculations.
  


• HMRC should consider further ways to simplify partial exemption calculations and to improve the process of making and agreeing special method applications.
  


• The government should consider whether capital goods scheme categories other than for land and property are needed, and review the land and property threshold.
  


• HMRC should review the current requirements for record keeping and the audit trail for options to tax, and the extent to which this might be handled on-line.