Institute of Directors supports HMRC restructuring plans

The Institute of Directors has supported wide-ranging plans announced by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to restructure its operations.

HMRC aims to produce a better service for taxpayers and cut down on costs at the same time, winning the backing of the influential group.

HMRC’s effectiveness

Head of Taxation at the IoD, Stephen Herring, spoke at length about the new changes. He said that the HMRC restructure will cause concerns that fewer people will be employed to answer calls, which could have a knock-on effect for revenue.

However, he went on to point out that it need not be the case, as however many employees HMRC has shouldn't be a metric for its effectiveness as a tax collector.

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) actually has only 60% more staff than HMRC for serving a population five times the size of the UK.

Modern ways

Herring also cites the closing of the tax gap by £11 billion over the past ten years as proof that redeploying staff and focusing on modern ways of tax collection is effective.

“Of course, the easiest way to make the process of collecting tax as easy and painless as possible is to make sure taxes are as simple as they can be.

"The sheer number of taxes, overly complex reliefs and exemptions, codes, clawbacks and dispensations Britain now has is bewildering. HMRC’s job could be made a lot easier if the government radically simplified our hefty tax code,” Herring concluded.