Milton Friedman once said that “Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned”.

Evidently someone upset an HMRC bureaucrat in recent years – accounting and taxes are getting more and more complicated by the day as new measures are introduced. With Brexit on the horizon as well, there’s no telling how complex the UK’s tax codes could be in years to come.

But why is Tax still so complicated, even though the Government’s “Bonfire of regulations” seems to have actually had an impact on the amount of unnecessary legislation? Since 2014, the number of Statutory Instruments issued per year has fallen by half. This means there’s over 1,500 fewer red-tape-adding laws being passed – but none of that is reflected in laws related to Tax.

The UK Tax Code is insanely long – at 2,700 pages it’s more than double the length of all three Lord of the Rings books combined! But the “bonfire” has barely scratched it. At AIMS, we’ve made it our mission to make tax as simple as possible for our clients – the simpler tax is to understand, the easier it is for both businesses and accountants to help each other. It’s disappointing to see that very little progress has been made in this area despite it being arguably the most complex part of the UK’s legal system.

We can only hope that the future will bring a real bonfire to Tax legislation.

In the meantime, if you need help finding your way through the forest of Tax Codes, just get in touch with your local AIMS Accountant – they’ll make it simple!