ICAEW’s Tax Faculty has written to Victoria Atkins MP, the latest Financial Secretary to the Treasury, ahead of the Autumn Statement on 17 November, focusing on the theme of simplification.

The faculty strongly encourages ministers to review the decision to disband the OTS. Instead, ICAEW suggests exploring the expansion of the OTS’s role to focus on reviewing what progress is being made on the implementation of its proposals, not just on making recommendations to ministers. Furthermore, the OTS’s mandate could be expanded to pursue changes proactively.

The letter also highlights the need for a cultural change within HMRC to prevent the administration of the tax system from hindering growth. Examples include delays issuing VAT registration numbers and the wait in transferring VAT registration numbers across when a business incorporates.

A previous letter to Richard Fuller MP, in his role as Economic Secretary to the Treasury between July and October 2022, set out the Tax Faculty’s concerns over off-payroll working, making tax digital, and simplification of the tax system to help promote growth.