A requirement of holding and maintaining my Chartered Accountancy qualification is ensuring I complete regular, continuing, professional development training to remain current in my profession. 

As such, I recently attended a tax road show training. 

I won’t bore you with all the details – avoiding those is why you hire someone like me to help you –but I want to note just how many tax law changes have come into effect in recent years and just how confusing some areas of the tax legislation have become.

Over the past seven years I think there have been more changes to the tax legislation than during the rest of my approximately 25-year professional career. Maybe I exaggerate slightly, but there have been a huge number of changes to tax laws in recent years making things increasingly complex.

Where am I going with this? Well, based on the course I have just attended I don’t think there has ever been a period where people have needed to seek advice from their accountant more than now.

This particularly applies when completing tax returns and when buying or selling property. The bright line property tax law is a classic example of this.

Not only is there a bright line test, but there are three iterations of legislation to follow based on the various changes the Government bought in over time. These are, firstly, the two-year test, secondly, the five-year test, and, finally, the 10-year test. 

Then there is the risk that while a sale may be exempt from the bright line tax, any depreciated property associated with the house may not be. Exemptions are further complicated by scenarios where someone rents out a portion of their personal home, or they don’t live in their personal home for a period of time.

I am a big fan of keeping things simple. Simple is good.

However, coming away from the tax road show, I can’t help but feel that all the changes to the tax legislation are starting to make everything far too complex – to the point I am not even sure the recent changes are achieving what was initially intended by the Government.

It is an election year and so we will soon hear what the various parties want to do with regards to tax legislation. Whatever their agenda/intentions, I hope that some can take a step back and at least look to simplify the system for all involved rather than making it more and more difficult to interpret. 

In the interim period, you may want to consult with your accountant if you are not sure whether everything is in order. As I just found from my latest training, there is a lot more to take into consideration than you may be aware of!