Key documents : taxation
Standard Note:
SN4680
Last updated:
27 March 2015
Author:
Antony Seely
Business & Transport Section
This note lists some of the key official documents relating to taxation, and a short selection of
other reading on this topic. Links are provided to internet locations where the documents
were available at the time of writing.
Contents
1
UK tax system, basic statistics & tax advice
Budgets 2010-2015
Parliamentary scrutiny of government tax & spending
This information is provided to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties and is not intended
to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual. It should not be relied upon as being up to date;
the law or policies may have changed since it was last updated; and it should not be relied upon as legal or
professional advice or as a substitute for it. A suitably qualified professional should be consulted if specific advice
or information is required.
This information is provided subject to our general terms and conditions which are available online or may be
provided on request in hard copy. Authors are available to discuss the content of this briefing with Members and
their staff, but not with the general public.
UK tax system, basic statistics & tax advice
The UK tax system
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) publishes good summary descriptions of both the UK tax
and benefit system:
Thomas Pope & Barra Roantree, A survey of the UK tax system - IFS Briefing Notes
BN09, November 2014
Andrew Hood & Laura Oakley, A survey of the UK benefit system - IFS Briefing Notes
BN13, October 2014
Both are collated on the Fiscal Facts section of the IFS website, along with tax and benefit
tables, material on public finance, various measures of inequality and poverty, and a
summary of tax measures introduced in recent Budgets.
At one time HM Treasury published a comprehensive description of the UKs tax and benefits
system in its annual Tax Benefit Reference Manual. This has been discontinued, but the last
edition, which was for 2009-10, is still of use. It is a deposited paper in the Commons Library
(HC Deb 14 July 2009 c7WS; Deposited paper 2009-1987):
An excellent academic study of the tax system if now rather dated is, J.A.Kay &
M.A.King, The British Tax System (5th edition), 1990.
A detailed guide to the law is, Claire Hayes & Ruth Newman, Tolleys Tax Guide 2014/15
edition, 2014.
Basic statistics
Tax rates and allowances for the 2015/16 tax year are set out in Annex B to HM
Treasury/HM Revenue & Customs, Overview of tax legislation and rates, 18 March 2015
The Library also publishes a short paper each year summarising rates and allowances for
income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax the
edition for the 2015/15 tax year is Library Research paper 15/17, 27 March 2015
.
HM Revenue & Customs Official Statistics pages present data on all taxes these are
collated on Gov.uk
Of the data presented here, one table, HM Revenue & Customs Receipts, shows the annual
receipts from all national taxes. The department has also published estimates of tax receipts
disaggregated between England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.
One section of these pages gives details of the cost of basic tax reliefs, and illustrative
changes to both direct and indirect taxes.
Statistics on VAT, excise duties, and other indirect taxes can be found in a series of
factsheets & bulletins on the UK Trade Info site.
In 2010 the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) was established to provide independent
and authoritative analysis of the UKs public finances. Details of the OBRs most recent
estimates of tax receipts for the current year, and the next five years, are in its Economic &
Fiscal Outlook, Cm 9024, March 2015 (see, in particular, Table 4.5: current receipts). In July
2014 the OBR published its latest Fiscal sustainability report its analysis of UK public
finances beyond this medium-term horizon. In February 2015 the OBR updated its historical
database of Budget & Autumn Statement policy measures since 1970.
Tax advice
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) provide detailed guidance for taxpayers, and for
professional advisers & agents, on Gov.uk including a series of pages on individual
aspects of the tax system, including: Income Tax, Tax Credits, Capital Gains Tax,
Corporation Tax, Inheritance Tax, VAT, Advice for Accountants and Advisers and, Appeals
against HMRC decisions.
Detailed technical guidance in series of internal Manuals which cover both scope of taxes
and departmental practice: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-manuals
HMRC also publish a list of contact addresses & helplines, supplemented by a series of FAQs.
*
In November 2008 the Labour Government announced a new scheme, to allow businesses
affected by the current recession, to defer payment of tax. These time-to-pay arrangements
allow businesses to avoid penalties on late payment, though interest is charged on this debt.
These arrangements remain in place, and guidance is collated on Gov.uk.
*
Two other very useful sources of tax advice are:
TaxAid : is a UK charity providing free tax advice to people who cannot afford to pay a
professional adviser. The charitys website has a series of pages offering guidance,
including guidance on tax debt. It has also published a guide on this issue: Tax debt? Cant
afford to pay?, June 2013.
Low Incomes Tax Reform Group : provides help for pensioners, students, disabled persons
& carers, migrants, and workers on low incomes. Notably LITRG publish detailed guidance
for taxpayers for checking their tax code
Budgets 2010-2015
June 2010
The Coalition Governments first Budget report was published alongside the Chancellors
Budget statement to the House on 22 June 2010. The report Budget 2010 HC 61 and
associated material published by HM Treasury is now available on the National Archives site.
Usually on Budget day HM Revenue & Customs publish a series of Budget Notes, which give
details of tax measures included in the Budget, as well as reports, consultation documents,
impact assessments, and draft legislation for the forthcoming Finance Bill. As with the
Budget report, this material, and subsequent updates, are now archived.
A few days after the June Budget, the Coalition Government published a short Finance Bill
which covered its key priorities, and this received Royal Assent on 27 July. The Labour
Government had introduced a much shorter Finance Bill than usual after its Budget on 24
March 2010, to be agreed in the short wash up period before the Dissolution of the House
and the 2010 General Election. Its intention had been to include these technical measures in
a second Bill after the Election, if returned to office. In turn these provisions formed the
content of the Coalition Governments second Finance Bill, which received Royal Assent as
Finance (No 3) Act 2010 on 16 December.
March 2011
The Governments second Budget was delivered on 23 March 2011; the Budget report - HC
836 - is on the National Archives site. Material published by HMRC alongside the Budget,
and subsequent updates, are archived.
The Finance (No 3) Bill 2011 was published on 29 March 2011. The Bill completed its
Parliamentary scrutiny and received Royal Assent on 19 July 2011.
March 2012
The Governments third Budget was delivered on 21 March 2012; the Budget report - HC
1853 - is on the National Archives site. Material published by HMRC alongside the Budget,
and subsequent updates, are archived.
The Finance Bill 2012 was published on 29 March 2012. As the Queens Speech was given
on 9 May 2012, the Bill was carried over into the 2012-13 Session: it completed its
Parliamentary scrutiny and received Royal Assent on 17 July 2012.
Autumn Statement 2012
The Governments Autumn Statement was given on 5 December 2012; the report and
associated material are collated on the Gov.uk site. Draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2013
was published on 11 December 2012 (HC Deb cc 15-18WS). This was collated on Gov.uk,
with associated individual tax information and impact notes on each of the proposed
provisions for the Bill, which is now archived.
Budget 2013
The Governments fourth Budget was delivered on 20 March 2013; the Budget report - HC
1033 - and associated documents are collated on the Gov.uk site. Material published by
HMRC alongside the Budget, and subsequent updates, are archived.
The Finance Bill 2013 was published on 28 March 2013. The explanatory notes to the Bill
and related material are collated on the Gov.uk site, which includes notes on amendments
tabled by the Government since the Bill was first published. The timing of the Queens
Speech on 8 May 2013 saw the Bill carried over into the 2013/14 Session; it completed its
Parliamentary Scrutiny, and received Royal Assent on 17 July 2013.
Autumn Statement 2013
The Autumn Statement was given on 5 December 2013; the report and associated material
are available on Gov.uk. Draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2014 was published on 10
December 2013 (HC Deb cc 21-22WS). This was collated on Gov.uk, with associated
individual tax information and impact notes on each of the proposed provisions for the Bill.
Budget 2014
The Governments fifth Budget was delivered on 19 March 2014. The Budget report - HC
1104 - and associated documents are collated on Gov.uk. Material published by HMRC is
collated on Gov.uk.
The Finance Bill 2014 was published on 27 March 2014. The explanatory notes to the Bill
and related material are collated on the Gov.uk site, including information on amendments
tabled by the Government at the Committee & Report stages of the Bill. The Bill, and details
of its Parliamentary progress, are on the Parliament site.
Autumn Statement 2014
The Autumn Statement was given on 3 December 2014; the report and associated material
are available on Gov.uk. Draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2015 was published a few days
later, on 10 December 2014 (HC Deb cc 39-40WS). This was collated on Gov.uk. HMRC
published tax information and impact notes on measures that took immediate effect on 3
December, and other measures, published on 10 December, to be included in the 2015 Bill.
Budget 2015
The Governments sixth Budget was delivered on 18 March 2015. The Budget report - HC
1093 - and associated documents are collated on Gov.uk.
In addition to the report, three valuable sources are:
the departments Policy Costings document which gives details of how it has
estimated the costs/yield of individual measures;
the departments Impact on Households document, which provides distributional
analysis of the impact of tax and spending decisions since June 2010, and,
the series of Tax Information and Impact notes published by HMRC, dealing with each
of the tax measures to be included in the Finance Bill. The notes are also collated in
the Overview of Tax Legislation & Rates document published by Treasury & HMRC.
The best discussion of the Government's options with regards to its fiscal strategy is the
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) annual Green Budget: the 2015 edition is on its site in full.
Material by the IFS related to previous Budgets/Pre-Budget Reports/Autumn Statements is
collated on its site. Of related interest the IFS has published, as part of a series of briefing
notes for the 2015 General Election, The Coalition Governments record on tax, Briefing Note
BN167, 13 March 2015.
Further details on the context for the 2015 Budget are given in Background to the 2015
Budget, Library standard note SN7136, 13 March 2015. This includes a checklist of all of the
tax measures set out in the Coalition Agreement in May 2010, and the progress that had
been made on each of them (see Appendix 3). Details of the Budget are set out in, Budget
2015: a summary Library standard note SN7141, 18 March 2015.
The Finance Bill 2015 was published on 24 March 2015. The explanatory notes to the Bill
and related material are collated on the Gov.uk site. The Bill, and details of its Parliamentary
progress, are on the Parliament site. Due to the timing of the Dissolution of the House, prior
to the 2015 General Election, the Bill was considered in its entirety on 25 March 2015.
Tax policy & consultation
The decision to publish much of the forthcoming Finance Bill in draft form was part of the
Coalition Governments strategy to improve the development of tax policy, first set out at the
time of the 2010 Budget: HM Treasury, Tax policy making: a new approach, June 2010.
Further details on this approach is given in, The new approach to tax policy making: a
response to the consultation, December 2010; and, The Governments Tax Consultation
Framework : Summary of Responses and finalised Framework, March 2011.
Parliamentary scrutiny of government tax & spending
Liaison Committee, Second report: Parliament and government finance: recreating financial
scrutiny, 21 April 2008 HC 426 2007-08; in particular, chapter 2 of the report A short history
of financial control and scrutiny.
*
Taxation
The Budget & the annual Finance Bill, Library standard note SN813, 5 December 2013
Chapter 10: Public money, Paul Evans, Handbook of House of Commons Procedure, 8th ed
2011 pp94-106
Institute for Fiscal Studies/Tax Law Review Committee, Tax policy making in the UK Discussion Paper 8, June 2010
Paul Johnson, Better Budgets: making tax policy work - Institute for Fiscal Studies Briefing
Note BN137, February 2013
Paul Johnson, Tax without design: recent developments in UK tax policy - IFS Working
Papers (W14/09), 13 May 2014
*
Expenditure
HM Treasury, Main Supply Estimates 2014/15, April 2014 see in particular, Section 3:
Parliamentary procedure
Alex Brazier and Vidya Ram, The Fiscal Maze, Hansard Society July 2006
Scrutiny Unit, Financial scrutiny uncovered, 2nd ed September 2012
Scrutiny Unit, Public Spending in Pictures a simple overview of the Main Estimates
2014/15, June 2014
