Written question asked by David Gauke (Conservative) on Tuesday, 20 March 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 22 March 2007. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Tuesday, 27 March 2007 on behalf of the Treasury.

Corporation Tax

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the cost of the corporation tax rewrite to (a) the Government and (b) business.

Answer: The cost of the work of the Tax Law Rewrite project in relation to the rewrite of corporation tax is estimated to be £10 million spread over the years 2005-06 to 2009-10.The cost of the rewrite to business will mainly arise through tax professionals spending time becoming familiar with the rewritten legislation. It has not been possible to quantify this cost. But users have expressed confidence that the clearer legislation in those Acts will result in efficiency savings many times greater than this initial cost.

Secondary information