Gov't publishes new tax framework for business

The Government has published a draft Tax Framework for business in order to provide greater certainty about the development of tax policy. Unfortunately, this objective only applies to large businesses.

The principal purpose of the tax framework for business is to set out a short and clear statement on the Government’s principles for UK tax policy and how it engages with business in developing tax policy.

Developed in collaboration with the Business-Government forum on Tax and globalisation. The Government is seeking feedback on the draft, which sets out:

- The key principles underpinning the development of tax policy – including securing fairness, competitiveness and stability for the UK, and ensuring new burdens and complexities are not created for UK business

- The policy process the Government follows when developing tax policy, including consultation wherever possible.

Editorial comment
It is a shame that there is no similar tax framework for small business. It would be reassuring to know that the Chancellor felt the same way about businesses of all sizes. Taxpayers should be able to rely on HMRC's Charter to provide some assurances of fair treatment on more general terms, but this will not prevent tinkering with the tax system at Budget time.

Links
The draft framework