Call for Evidence

The Finance Bill Sub-Committee, chaired by Lord Bridges of Headley, is appointed annually by the Economic Affairs Committee to consider the draft Finance Bill. The sub-committee focuses on issues of tax administration, clarification, and simplification rather than on rates or incidence of tax.

Draft Finance Bill clauses were published on 20 July 2021. The sub-committee’s inquiry will focus on two areas of the draft legislation:

• proposals for income tax basis period reform
• notification by large businesses of uncertain tax treatment.

Details of the proposals are at the links above.

The sub-committee invites interested individuals and organisations to submit written evidence to this inquiry. It would be particularly interested to hear from small businesses directly affected by basis period reform and their agents.

Written submissions are requested by Wednesday 13 October 2021.

After it has concluded its inquiry the sub-committee will make recommendations in a report to the House of Lords.

Areas of interest

The sub-committee welcomes views on any of the following questions relating to the two areas of focus.

The sub-committee is interested to know about the experiences of individuals and organisations, as well as more general responses. There is no obligation to answer every question and the sub-committee recognises that respondents will not necessary be interested in all the areas of focus.

Income tax basis period reform

1. How far does the reform represent a useful simplification?

2. To what extent would the reform deliver a fairer result than the current rules?

3. Would either of the alternative options mentioned in the consultation document be a better solution? If so, why?

4. Are the transitional provisions sufficiently robust? If not, how do they need to change?

5. How onerous is apportionment of profits between tax years likely to be for businesses which do not have an accounting period aligned with the financial/tax year?

6. How manageable is the timetable, especially vis-à-vis the introduction of Making Tax Digital for income tax?

7. What is Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs doing to support businesses in making the change?

8. How important is reform of the basis period rules in the context of the Government’s 10-year strategy for the tax administration framework?

9. How much of a problem are the existing basis period rules in practice?

10. How does the proposal fit with the work the Office of Tax Simplification is doing on the date of the end of the tax year?

Notification by large businesses of uncertain tax treatment

1. To what extent do the current proposals for notification by large businesses of uncertain tax treatment take account of concerns raised in the two consultations there have been on the measure?

2. Is sufficient support being given to businesses to help them comply with the measure? 

Guidance for submissions

Written evidence should be submitted online using the written submission form available at https://committees.parliament.uk/submission/#/evidence/585/preamble. If you have difficulty submitting evidence online, please contact FINANCEBILL@parliament.uk

The deadline for written evidence is Wednesday 13 October 2021.

Submissions should be short, concise and of no more than six pages. Submissions of between four and six pages should include a one-page summary. Paragraphs should be numbered. Submissions should be dated and should state clearly whether the submission is made in a personal capacity or on behalf of an organisation.

Where possible, comments on particular parts of the draft legislation should specify to which clause they refer.

All submissions made through the written submission form will be acknowledged automatically by email. Respondents do not have to address every question in the call for evidence. Submissions which have been published previously will not be accepted as evidence.

Submissions become the property of the sub-committee, which will decide whether to accept them as evidence. Evidence may be published by the sub-committee at any stage; when it is so published it becomes subject to parliamentary copyright and is protected by parliamentary privilege.

Respondents will be contacted to confirm whether their submission has been accepted as evidence; at this point they may publicise or publish their evidence themselves. In doing so they must indicate that it was prepared for the sub-committee; please be aware that publication or re-publication of evidence may not be protected by parliamentary privilege.

Respondents should be careful not to comment on individual cases currently before a court of law. If respondents anticipate such issues arising, please discuss with the clerk of the sub-committee how this might affect the submission.

Personal contact details will be removed from evidence before publication but will be retained by the House of Lords Committee Office and used for specific purposes relating to the sub- committee’s work, for instance to seek additional information.

Persons who submit written evidence, and others, may be invited to give oral evidence. Oral evidence is usually given in public and broadcast online; transcripts are also taken and published online. Persons invited to give oral evidence will be notified of the procedure to be followed and the topics likely to be discussed.

Substantive communications to the sub-committee about the inquiry should be addressed to the clerk of the sub-committee, whether or not they are intended to constitute formal evidence to the sub-committee.

This is a public call for evidence. Please bring it to the attention of other groups and individuals who may not have received a copy directly.

Diversity comes in many forms, and hearing a range of different perspectives means that select committees are better informed and can scrutinise public policy and legislation more effectively. Committees can undertake their role most effectively when they hear from a wide range of individuals, sectors or groups in society affected by a particular policy or piece of legislation. The sub-committee encourages anyone with experience or expertise of this issue to share their views, in the full knowledge that their views have value and are welcome.

Progress of the inquiry may be followed at https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1491/draft-finance-bill-202122/