The Taxes Acts grows larger and larger by the year. This seems ironic when every government, of whatever political persuasion, promises to cut red tape for businesses. Pick up a copy of the Income and Corporation Taxes Acts from the Office of Public Sector Information or, as it was previously called, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, and you will see just how substantial the legislation is. The document is very heavy going and can lead to many sleepless nights.

The accountancy profession does not have a problem with the system of taxation. Indeed, it seems designed to keep them in work. However, it is no surprise that even accountants struggle to keep up with all the changes and that a specialist tax profession has grown up. In fact there are specialists in most areas of tax, including Pay As You Earn, and thus there has been an increase in the number of businesses using payroll services companies such as Dataplan.

Income tax is a temporary tax and has to be renewed each year. Thus there is a budget. The government’s thinking seems to be that whilst that is being done they can tinker with the existing legislation. Add to this H M Revenue and Custom’s administration of taxes and the edicts and interpretations that they issue throughout the year and you have very little chance of complying with every rule and regulation. You may conclude it is time to use a payroll services company and free yourself from the headache of dealing with payroll in-house.