Britain’s economic recovery is being hindered by complex employment tax rules, according to research by accountancy firm BDO.
Britain’s economic recovery is being hindered by complex employment tax rules, according to research by accountancy firm BDO.
The study of 126 companies found that 78 per cent of respondents thought that an overly complex tax regime was affecting economic growth.
Byzantine HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) rules were blamed for holding businesses back from offering benefits to employees, including share-based incentive schemes. More than half (55 per cent) said that they didn’t offer an incentive scheme, even though they recognised that such schemes would enable them to attract and retain staff.
David Ellis, head of human capital at BDO, said: ‘Our vision would be to remove all current HMRC approved or registered schemes and replace them with one arrangement, under which share options could be offered to any employee, on any terms, and at any price. As our survey showed, such schemes would encourage a third of businesses to consider offering share scheme to staff.’
Respondents emphasised that burdensome administrative duties and onerous regulations were a barrier to attracting new talent. The study found that just over a third of senior executives (34 per cent) admitted that they would be more likely to employ additional staff if taxes were reduced or reformed, while 70 per cent said that employment tax policies would affect which political party they would vote for in the next election.
