The Office for Tax Simplification has suggested that the government should consider merging income tax and national insurance contributions into a single tax. HMRC has asked for evidence from employers and payroll providers about the proposal, including: (a) the administrative difficulties of operating income tax and NICs for employers, payroll software providers and payroll administrators; and (b) how the proposed collection of PAYE data on a real time basis (which was proposed earlier in the year) may affect the integration of income tax and NICs. The responses will feed into the government's reform proposals, which will be published for consultation in autumn 2011.
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