E-tax experts fear IR white paper lacks lustre for UK

The Inland Revenue's (IR) plans for ecommerce taxation outlined in Friday's white paper has drawn a mixed reaction from Britain's ecommerce watchers.

The paper outlines the importance for government to support ecommerce through its taxation policy. Measures include a commitment to make sure tax regimes are neutral between ecommerce and traditional commerce.

The IR also aims to encourage e-government by offering tax discounts to people filing tax returns online.

David Clayton a tax expert at PricewaterhouseCoopers said: "It's a good overall summary of the issues but there's no real killer application or something that's really going to make the UK stand out against any other country".

UK entrepreneur veteran, Bob Jones, also welcomed the plans but stressed that time is of the essence.

"It's good to see that the Government's goal is to resolve these issues and make the effect neutral from a taxation perspective - let's hope that it deals with this in Internet timescales, not conventional business timescales," said Jones.