OTS’s second report on capital gains tax

In July 2020 the chancellor of the exchequer asked the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to carry out a review of capital gains tax to ‘identify opportunities relating to administrative and technical issues as well as areas where the present rules can distort behaviour or do not meet their policy intent’.

Given the wide scope of the review the OTS has produced two reports. Together they make up the most comprehensive review ever conducted of the tax and the practical experience of those who report or pay it.

I was pleased to write about the OTS’s first report Capital gains tax: simplifying by design (tinyurl.com/otscgtfirst) in Taxation 19 November 2020 page 8 and am delighted to return to cover the key points from the second report Simplifying practical technical and administrative issues now that this has been...