Changes to tax return welcomed
Tax accountants have welcomed the final draft of the Inland Revenue’s self-assessment tax return, unveiled earlier this week.
The return has been slimmed down and incorporates many of the changes demanded by the profession. Ernst & Young senior manager Jonathan Bruce described the form’s colour coding as a big step forward. He added: ‘The form is as good as the Revenue could hope for.’
The Revenue also revealed that 500,000 fewer taxpayers will be covered by self-assessment when it starts next year.
Revenue deputy chairman Clive Corlett explained that the reduction had been made possible by clamping down on returns sent out unnecessarily by local offices to taxpayers who had only a minor change in circumstances, such as marriage.