.png)
.png)
Charities have welcomed the Treasury’s commitment to modernise the language used to define an incapacitated person for direct tax purposes.
Paragraph 3.61 of the Budget’s Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates document recognises current definition includes terms that are no longer appropriate. Ministers will consult on how best to update the vocabulary.
Alexandra O’Dwyer of Scope, which supports disabled individuals and their families, said the proposed measure will be ‘an important opportunity for the government to listen to disabled people and their organizations.’
The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), part of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, a registered charity, criticised the current definition of a incapacitated person in the Taxes Management Act 1970 – which includes the expressions ‘lunatic’, ‘idiot’ and ‘insane person’ – as a ‘hangover from the Victorian age’ and ‘clearly offensive and no longer appropriate’.
LITRG technical director Robin Williamson said, ‘We have been campaigning for a change to this legislation for the past eight years. We were therefore delighted when, in October last year, the Exchequer secretary committed the government to changing the definition, and instructed his officials to begin discussions.
‘We now look forward to further discussions and to the publication of the consultation document in May 2011.'
