OVER the past week the main political parties have been setting out their tax policies.

So far they have reconfirmed my concerns that we will not see simplification of the tax system anytime soon.

Some announcements are already causing those of us who work in tax to be concerned about the additional complexity they will bring.

The uncertainty over the election result makes it very difficult to plan.

Last Friday I talked to two clients about very different tax issues.

I talked to one about inheritance tax planning and to the other about structuring a new business.

Within a week I have had to go back to both to say that we may need to rethink.

This made me reflect on some areas I have seen change frequently over the 35 years I have been in practice and on what this suggests we might see over the next few years.

The first thing to say (or rather repeat) is that in the first Budget following the last five general elections we have seen significant tax rises.

What actually happens may therefore go well beyond what is set out in the party manifestos.

One of the areas of most frequent change over the last couple of decades has been capital gains tax.

Based on that history I would not be surprised to see further changes and anyone whose retirement plans depend on the current regime should talk these over with their adviser.

Another area of almost constant change over recent years has been tax relief on pension contributions and the tax treatment of pension funds.

We already know that there will be further reforms whoever wins on May 7.

If you are intending to make significant contributions it would be prudent to seek advice as soon as possible.

One proposal which really took me back to my early days in tax was the treatment of dividends, which one party is suggesting should be taxed at a higher level than earnings.

Thirty years ago we had something called investment income surcharge which served to tax investment income at a higher level than earnings but for many years successive governments have given more favourable tax treatment to savings than to earnings.

The past – and the party manifestos – suggest that an early review of current tax and pension planning would be wise.

* Paul Aplin OBE is a tax partner with A C Mole & Sons and chairman of the Technical Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales Tax Faculty; you can follow him on Twitter @PaulAplinOnTax. He and fellow tax partners Amanda Gunter and Paul Kingdom can be contacted on 01823 624450.