Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
The need for greater monitoring of the impact of tax reliefs was also raised with...
Conclusion
The need for greater monitoring of the impact of tax reliefs was also raised with us by key stakeholders in the sector. We heard from the Chartered Institute of Taxation, which raised concerns about “the almost total lack of attention, at least so far as is visible to the outside world, as to how effective those measures prove over time.” It also contended 7 Committee of Public Accounts, The effective management of tax reliefs, Forty-ninth Report of Session 2014–15, HC 892, March 2015 8 HM Treasury, Treasury Minutes Government responses on the Thirtieth, the Thirty Fifth, the Thirty Seventh, and the Forty First to the Fifty Third reports from the Committee of Public Accounts: Session 2014–15, July 2015 9 C&AG’s report, paras 1.5, 3.3, 3.6, Figure 14 10 Q 52 11 Qq 46–47 12 Qq 40, 63 10 Management of tax reliefs that a key part of HMRC’s policy maintenance responsibility should be making sure that tax reliefs are achieving their objectives at reasonable cost. The Institute argued that this should be undertaken as part of a programme of regular reviews which monitors their take up, the cost of the relief, and whether it is having the desired impact on behaviours.13
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.2 The government recognises the importance of transparency in providing information to inform the understanding of tax reliefs. HMRC includes links to external evaluations and research reports about tax reliefs in the annual statistics publications. HMRC will continue to publish externally commissioned evaluations and to include relevant internal evaluation findings in consultation documents. 5.3 HMRC's internal analysis takes a wide range of forms from comprehensive impact assessments to analysis to feed into policy advice to Ministers on specific options, proposals and decisions, which is necessarily confidential. In 2021 HMRC will put in place a more structured programme of internal evaluation work including plans to start publishing this analysis from 2021, subject to Ministerial approval. It will however remain the case that unpublished information included in policy advice for Ministers will be subject to the normal confidentiality arrangements for such advice.