Income tax and National Insurance contributions closer alignment survey

The government has commissioned the Office of Tax Simplification to examine the potential for aligning income tax with National Insurance contributions (NICs). Please see our terms of reference.

We are gathering evidence of where the complexities lie in the current differences between income tax and NICs. For example there are differences in the definition of income, whether you are employed or self employed, and in the treatment of expenses and benefits. In addition, income tax is calculated on your annual income whereas NICs is calculated every time you are paid.

We would like to hear from agents, payroll managers and providers, and also employed and self employed individuals, about the difficulties that these differences give rise to, and what you think could be done to simplify the system.

We have developed two surveys:

• a short survey for individuals: this survey should take no longer than 5 minutes

• a longer survey for agents, payroll providers or employers: this survey should take no longer than 15 minutes

These surveys will close on 31 December 2015, and you can also write to the OTS.

Thank you for taking part. We welcome your views.