Small businesses give rise to big tax issues. Recent tax history in the UK has shown that many problems can result from a failure to examine problems in the small business area as a whole, and also from the reluctance to look at the root of the problem rather than applying patches to the symptoms. The saga includes the introduction

and abandonment of the zero starting rate of corporation tax, the problems over IR35 and the subsequent managed service company legislation, and the income-splitting mess. Quick fixes, badly thought-through tax incentives and complex (arguably unworkable) legislation have created a mix that government, advisers and small businesses alike consider to be unfair to some and burdensome to many. The UK is not alone in finding that the taxation of small businesses is not a straightforward affair.