IR35 Review boss explains why abolition hopes may be premature

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IR35 Review boss explains why abolition hopes may be premature

Posted Aug 9, 2010

In a recent interview, the new tax director of the Office of Tax Simplification, explains why IR35 can't simply be 'abolished' in isolation.

John Whiting, interviewed by Taxation magazine, explained that many people believed that IR35 was simply going to be 'abolished' as a result of the review process.

However, Whiting explained that if serious changes are going to be made to the way small businesses are taxed, then the whole system should be looked at.

"What I don't want to do is add another bit of sticking plaster to what is already quite a ramshackle structure. If that disappoints people by not committing to abolish IR35 by the end of the week, well, sorry."

Whiting said that he was expecting to receive a great deal of input from interested parties on how the IR35 legislation should be dealt with.

The tax director of the new Office was also keen to point out that IR35 was originally implemented to tackle some "real abuses" of the tax system at the time - although it has not been a very effective piece of legislation.

You can read the interview here.

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