The basics of basis period reform: Part 1

One of the perils of being a tax student and of working in tax generally is having to deal with the large number of changes that are made to the UK’s ever-increasing volume of tax legislation.

Or looked at another way – these are the things that make working in tax so interesting – nothing stays the same for very long. A lot of the changes that we face are simply tweaks to the rates of tax thresholds or rules that need slight amendment. However once in a while something comes along that changes the fundamental rules of how tax operates.

The reform of basis periods or to put it into plain English the reform of how we decide the trading profits of which accounting period are taxed in any given tax year is one such change. Before we start though we...