South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has called for new businesses to be allowed to register for tax just once, as a new report finds that the process of registering for tax could be streamlined considerably.

Mr Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, was speaking as the National Audit Office published its report on helping new businesses meet their tax obligations today.  by introducing a single online registration point with a single reference number.

New businesses currently have to register for taxes such as Income Tax, PAYE, VAT and National Insurance separately and they receive a separate reference number for each tax.  Customer information on each tax is held on individual computer systems which are not linked, so that when a customer’s details are updated on one system they are not automatically updated on any of the others.

Mr Bacon said today: “Filling in tax forms is complicated and time-consuming enough without having to do it over and over again.  There can be no good reason why any business needs to register for tax more than once, nor why a business needs more than one tax number”.

“I welcome the fact that HM Revenue and Customs is now looking at single registration but it needs to grasp the nettle and make real progress. New businesses should not be bearing the burden for the taxman’s inefficiency”.

6 December 2006

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