Treasury publish shortlist of tax reliefs facing the axe

 An array of tax reliefs are under threat following the publication of a Treasury tax simplification shortlist of reliefs that could be abolished, according to Citywire.

‘’In November the Treasury produced a list of 1,042 reliefs for review. While some taxes will be kept others will be simplified, rolled together or scrapped completely.

A shortlist of 73 tax reliefs selected for inclusion in the final report features capital gains tax and income tax reliefs on venture capital trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs), income tax relief on pension contributions, the inheritance tax (IHT) treatment of potentially exempt transfers (PETs) and IHT taper relief’.

Nothing is safe – be warned

 This story should really not come as a surprise to most people but it is still worth highlighting. The government is trying to reduce our national debt and rebalance the books. This in can be done by cutting spending (which is under way) and/or increasing taxes (or removing tax reliefs).

It is inevitable that a whole host of tax reliefs and incentives will be canned within this term of government given the scale of the problem they are trying to tackle. The message here is that with key tax planning tools and reliefs likely disappear people need to plan ahead – before it’s too late.

The full shortlist can be found here.