Following a review by the Office of Tax Simplification and their report published on 3 March 2011, the Government is now consulting on the proposal to abolish 36 tax reliefs.

Now, before you get too excited – either at the thought of the benefits for simplification or at the thought of losing valuable reliefs – these are not exactly the 36 most exciting reliefs on the Statute Books!  They are:

1. Payments to mariners to be disregarded for Class 1 NICs
2. Grants for giving up agricultural land
3. Pool betting duty payments related to safety improvement at football grounds or for the arts
4. Mineral royalties
5. Cycle to work days – provision of meals
6. Late night taxis
7. Luncheon vouchers
8. Pools payment for football ground improvements
9. Pools payment for support for games
10. Disregard for certain apprentices and students coming to the UK
11. Assistance in identifying lost or stolen credit cards
12. Nationalisation schemes
13. Tax reserve certificates issued by HM Treasury
14. Payments for the benefit of family members
15. Class 1A – Exemption for prescribed general earnings
16. Class 4 – Allows deduction in next tax year of losses incurred in 89/90 or previous tax year where losses from income other than trade or profession or vocation
17. Deeply discounted securities – incidental expenses
18. Life assurance premium relief
19. Life assurance premiums paid by employers under E-FRBS
20. Capital allowances – flat conversion allowances
21. Capital allowances – safety at sports grounds
22. Certain leases granted by registered social landlords
23. Disadvantaged area relief (Stamp duty)
24. Exempt Instruments
25. Partial relief for company acquisitions
26. Shared ownership transactions
27. Transfers to registered social landlords
28. Visiting forces and allied headquarters
29. Disadvantaged area relief (Stamp duty land tax)
30. Angostura bitters
31. Black beer
32. Land remediation relief
33. Compensation for mis-sold pensions
34. Harbour authorities
35. Harbour reorganisation schemes
36. Transfers in relation to harbour reorganisation schemes
If you are interested, look at the Consultation Document where you will find more information on each of these reliefs.
As I say, not exactly the most exciting (or frequently used) reliefs but it has to be right, in the interests of simplification if nothing else, to consider getting rid of them.
The consultation closes on 31 August 2011.