OTS to explore self-employed tax reporting and payment

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has announced it will explore existing and potential new developments, which could make it simpler for people who are self-employed or receive private residential property income to meet their tax obligations. 

The OTS will be carrying out this work over the Summer of 2019 with a view to publishing an initial paper in the Autumn, which could then be followed by a more extensive review. 

To date, the OTS has published two reports: the first was on the impacts of the platform economy on the management of tax affairs and the second a technology discussion paper. 

It's latest work will explore the merits and drawbacks both of existing approaches to tax reporting and payment for self-employed people, such as the construction industry scheme, and of new potential developments or planned approaches to this, including options for information reporting or payment of tax to take place closer to real time. 

The objective, it said, will be to consider how such processes could be made simpler, or developed in a way that is straightforward to use, so that people can meet their tax obligations in a practical, convenient and streamlined way. 

"While what follows is expressed in terms of self-employed people, this work will also consider the position of those receiving rent from letting residential property, whether on a short or a long-term basis," the OTS said.