Simplify - Even the government are trying it!

George Osbourne, the Chancellor, has announced the creation of the Office of Tax Simplification.  The OTS has been set up to review the staggering 11,000 pages of tax rules and report back by the budget in April 2011 on ways to simplify the tax system for small businesses and conduct a review of how tax relief, allowances and exemption can be streamlined.

As part of that remit the OTS will conduct a review of IR35, which was promised by Mark Prisk, now Minister for Business and Enterprise, before the General Election.

The OTS will be headed by Michael Jack (former Conservative MP and Treasury minister) and John Whiting (Tax Director at the Chartered Institute of Taxation).