As a famous old song tells us, often you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

While Joni Mitchell was doubtless talking about love or relationships, it’s true to say that businesses should also apply the same principle to existing tax reliefs.

Following the announcement that the Treasury is to conduct a widescale review of current tax allowances, it’s time for businesses and other taxpayers to maximise the benefits these reliefs offer before it’s too late.

The official Treasury line is that this review has no agenda other than to simplify the UK tax system and make it easier for those who meet the criteria to assess their entitlement.  A simpler tax system can only be a good thing for the economy, we all agree on that.

However, there can also be little doubt that what will transpire is a major cull of existing allowances prior to March’s Budget announcement as the government battles to balance its books.

As dozens of reliefs disappear or undergo an overhaul, it could spell serious bad news for thousands of taxpayers.

The majority of these reliefs have been introduced over a long period of time, usually to engineer greater economic activity or to help correct an unfair anomaly.

Some people might regard the review as closing tax loopholes, but that’s a wrong interpretation as it suggests an element of deceit.

The review is highly unlikely to deliver any additional reliefs for taxpayers, so the message is simple, make full use of the reliefs before they’re confined to the parking lot.