Making Tax Digital

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Has J-PM head of HMRC gone missing on this project? Others seem to being pushed to the front.

By Gaz1962
04th Aug 2026 12:09
It’s abysmal when the seeds to bringing this in were first sown in 2015, and with delays and a huge tranche of taxpayers money thrown at it, the end result is a half baked new system thrown out to the software companies and taxpayers (or is that ‘customers’ as HMRC liked to falsely put it) to sort out, whilst HMRC sit back and distance themselves from any responsibility. It’s an appalling state of affairs.
If they were a business in the real world, they’d have gone bust years ago !

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Shades of Dad's Army...we're doomed!

By kevinringer
12th Aug 2026 10:14
We're simple souls here on AWeb, and somewhat shell shocked from the first quarter of MTD, and wondering if we're now doomed to a professional life of filing pointless submissions with HMRC, so please be gentle with us.

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By kevinringer
12th Aug 2026 11:16
"Which clients benefit?"

So far, none. The clients for whom we have submitted MTD so far fall into 2 categories:

1. Clients already using software, so MTD has not changed anything, they were using software anyway, so they've not benefitted from MTD.

2. Clients who aren't using software, but are willing to co-operate with MTD, but they don't want to know anything about the figures, because those clients are interested in the future and not the past. Those clients' businesses are their businesses, and they know absolutely everything going on, who owes them what etc. There's nothing software can tell them that they don't already know. Those clients are not interested in the past, because it has happened. So MTD tells them nothing they want to know, so it's no benefit to them.

There's another category of client; those who have not co-operated and not supplied anything, so are not registered for MTD and not submitted their first quarter. I have contacted those clients, but they don't want to co-operate, and because there's no fines and no benefit for any of them, I'm not going to push them. Instead I will remind them from time to time. These clients also don't benefit from MTD because MTD won't tell them anything they don't already know.

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Can nobody in the Labour party see this? The ticking bomb is likely to explode at the time of the next election.

Replying to kevinringer:
Tornado
By Tornado
13th Aug 2026 15:07
I was thinking more along the lines of -

* 2.5 million customers still to register
* hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of customers in two tax systems at the same time.
* those that do not realise that they may require additional software to submit the year end MTD Tax Return.
* Customers unable to Register or make submissions for various reasons
* Inadequate HMRC and Software Developer resources to support those with problems
* HMRC trying to communicate with Customers via Personal Tax Accounts that they do not have nor want
* Significant problems the HMRC Systems, particularly the Year End Tax Return
* Customers jumping in and out of MTD as their circumstances change

The 16 million or so quarterly updates eventually per annum full of crap is a little way off but yes, as HMRC are the only ones permitted to calculate tax liabilities, establishing correct tax liabilities is going to be challenging for them.

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by Molly Macfarlane (Part 1)

After a difficult first MTD quarterly update, accountants and bookkeepers are left exhausted, frustrated and deflated, with many questioning whether the current workload is sustainable and dreading what comes next.

Down in the dumps
Defeated, frustrated and deflated were the main feelings to come out of the webinar.

Milstead wished she could tell everyone that she felt great. Instead, “it’s this feeling of being defeated”.

“I thought I would come away with some kind of practical point that I could build on, thinking, great, this is a benefit, this is how I can utilise it, this is how I can make myself feel better about it all. I haven’t found that, so I feel a bit sad,” she continued.

Mitcham agreed: “I feel deflated. It’s a bit of an anticlimax because we’ve worked so hard for such a long time and as a profession, we’ve been under an immense amount of pressure to get this right, and we’ve put so much effort into it, and so to get this close and be met with HMRC and software issues is difficult.

“To sit there, knowing that as it stands, we’re struggling to get things over the line in the time that we’ve allocated to the jobs, and watch the staff be really stressed out – it’s very tough.”

Downing also felt “frustrated” that he couldn’t help. “It wasn’t just one catastrophic problem. It was lots of little problems stacking up on one another. Whether you had 10 clients or 100 clients, just three or four little niggles can really upset the workflow,” he said.

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I'm coming to the conclusion that if Labour still think this is a good idea, they are thick as shit.

"Thick as shit" is a common, vulgar British slang phrase meaning extremely stupid, dimwitted, or lacking common sense. In this context, "thick" means slow to understand or dense, and the added vulgarity intensifies the insult.

By Southwestbeancounter
10th Aug 2026 18:17
Spot on Modger! I've spent 8-10 hours teaching a long-standing client how to use Excel! I converted his perfectly good little ins and outs book into an Excel spreadsheet and he just couldn't 'get' it! He's not stupid - far from it - but it's just not his thing and his little book, plus his bank statements, copy sales invoices and purchase receipts worked absolutely perfectly for years!! He brings his books in on time and he pays me and his tax on time so the system worked but now I'm wasting valuable time teaching him and we're all getting frustrated and for what?!!!!!

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Labour's Red Tape is stunting growth.

by Molly Macfarlane (Part 2)

People are just really tired’
And the mood didn’t get any better in terms of capacity. One audience member said, "My main takeaway from this quarter is how to create 25 to 40% more work capacity, as the current workload is not sustainable”.

Milstead agreed, “People are just really tired.” She continued, “It’s not just about the amount of work it takes to do the quarterly updates. It’s the work that hasn’t been done because of the quarterly updates.

“There is a big concern as we approach the self assessment deadline. That’s a worry. I have been telling people that I know it’s not a long-term solution, but when we get to 7 February, there is a soft landing. Do not put this ahead of your mental health.”

Mitcham said, “I really didn’t want this to feel anywhere near as pressured as January always does, and unfortunately it did.”

As a result, her practice has paused new clients: “It’s a very rare thing that I do. I’m a growing business so it feels counterproductive to pause new clients. But I have to keep the clients I have happy and make sure that we’re meeting deadlines for them.”

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By Mr J Andrews
18th Aug 2026 13:28
Such negativity.
Surely this is one of the best Tax ideas since the invention of stale bread.
Let's hear what Ogilvie and passed sell by date Agent have to say how their 'customers' have benefitted from this wonderful concept - and keep a straight face..

I'm assuming the agent referenced above is RB who seemed to be totally in sync with my thoughts on HMRC's implementation of NRCGT reporting.

My favourite tax lecturer seems to agree that HMRC totally screwed up when introducing this reporting with her post copied below:

By Rebecca Benneyworth
27th Oct 2021 16:02
CGT reporting - worst, absolutely the worst thing ever.

I'd pay good money to listen to RB and say Kevin Ringer chat about the current state of MTD over a pint.

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By G-BIZ
18th Aug 2026 10:41
The comments on here highlight the exact problem with MTD. HMRC constantly push us as professionals to act to the highest standards ensuring the accounts and tax returns we submit for clients are 100% accurate but then force more and more extra work and red tape on us to the point many accountants on here are stating the information submitted doesn't need to meet that standard for MTD and rough estimates will be submitted as its not important and will sorted at year end with the final submission. This goes against the very standards professional bodies and hmrc push us to adhere to. Also, many smaller accounting practices work to capacity planning their year around completing client work at different times throughout the year along with ever increasing tasks that we are asked to complete (constant ONS surveys for clients springs to mind) and its a huge burden to manage all the clients to send their info every month and for me it hasn't happened despite communicating with my clients early and explaining what needs to be done and I have several MTD filings still outstanding. I have been dealing with many of these clients for almost 20 years and built a good relationship with these clients and always get their year end filings completed on time as I know the organised clients and the usual late comers and work to that schedule and therefore don't want to just drop them as a client if they feel unable to get the info to me quarterly as life often gets in the way of these tasks and people are often stuck in their ways and don't take change easily. For me MTD ITSA is a complete disaster and unnecessary.

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Has anyone reviewed whether MP Murray's 'thorough interrogation' was thorough at all...is anyone looking out for people working in the tax compliance industry? Having clearly made an incredibly poor decision to proceed, PM Burnham put MP Murray back in the post....incredible. It gives the impression politicians can say and do what they like with impunity.

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray faced detailed questioning by the Treasury Committee regarding Making Tax Digital (MTD). He stated that he did not immediately endorse inherited implementation timelines, choosing instead to conduct a thorough interrogation of HMRC's delivery pathways and software readiness before committing to the April 2026 rollout...ffs can he have been more wrong with his findings?

By Nick Belton
20th Aug 2026 21:59
Going into July I was up to date with my 2025/26 Tax Return workload. Now - having filed 40-odd MTD Returns to 07 August, then gone on holiday from 08-18 August - I now find myself well behind with my Tax Returns AND having to bill the MTD clients for Q1.

I will need to decide how to be consistent with my MTD charges and what time I will need to write off. Cashflow-wise, this quarter has been a disaster because of paying labour costs upfront to produce these wretched MTD Returns, without being able to bill until the Quarter has ended.

Indeed, because in a small practice it is all hands on deck in an MTD quarter it means holiday is then taken straight after, so in this summer quarter the effects of MTD Q1 will disrupt the workflow just at the time when you would want to be getting on top of Tax Returns to avoid another ruined Christmas and January crush.

The killer is that whilst Q2 will be more straightforward, Q3 in in January and Q4 will be onboarding the £30K incoming crew.

I don't see where the additional labour required to do this extra work is coming from. Right now, the situation is a shambles.


Replying to Nick Belton:

By Tornado
21st Aug 2026 00:02
And all for a project that is Totally Pointless!

Something has got to give in the end otherwise we will all go mad.