Making Tax Digital

[etf]

Labour as trustworthy as Boris....


15. Scrap quarterly reporting for businesses with a turnover of under £85,000. The Conservative’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) programme has been criticised for creating an unnecessary administrative burden for small businesses, especially the introduction of mandatory quarterly tax reporting. While the introduction of MTD has been delayed for those businesses under the VAT threshold, Labour will scrap this requirement altogether.

[etf]

Tsunami Warning!

By johnjenkins
20th Feb 2025 14:03
I suspect the answer is HMRC aren't sure of where they are with MTD and to have thousands of business asking "how do we do this" what should we do now" would crash everything.


Replying to johnjenkins:
Tornado
By Tornado
20th Feb 2025 14:30
HMRC will surely have the biggest problem ever when millions of people try to phone them every month about how to do something or require help on a huge range of subjects and possibilities.

I have some sympathy with their situation .....................................NO I DON'T !

[etf]

Can MP Murray and Labour afford the negative stuff that will surely flow when this commences?....why isn't MTD4IT initially limited to VAT registered businesses?....assess and then make an informed decision...that would be sensible....how much of our money has Harra overspent on this project?....how many other services have been compromised with Harra claiming they are under-resourced...if you have to wait 73 minutes for a call to be answered now...how long post April 2026?


By Silver Birch Accts
20th Feb 2025 16:10
I watched the TaxCalc webinar yesterday and yes the comments were by far the most interesting aspect. By the end attendees were setting up Whats app groups with multiple mobile numbers being displayed. Rebecca Bennyworth was introduced as Tax Royalty and A Rock star, she ended being widely castigated as a traitor, amongst other things, she unfortunately lost a lot of credibility which is very sad. Her folk tales, nothing to do with MTD, went down very badly. TaxCalc stated at the end that 1.000 attended , I would say 90% were very anti MTD. Craig Oglievie did his usual empty vessel act. Whoever was responsible for the constant flow of emojis floating over the screen deserves a medal.


By Rebecca Benneyworth
20th Feb 2025 16:33
I was asked to give an example of what benefits a business might gain from digital record keeping. A real client (not a folk tale) who felt that the move from incomplete paper records to digital record keeping had benefitted their business hugely. That was all. I didn’t claim it was anything at all to do with MTD - in fact it was years ago. I know that not all clients will benefit, but some will, and real life examples are easier to relate to.
I’m sorry you didn’t find my contribution useful or helpful, but I shall continue to try to help fellow professionals get ready for this change, whether it ‘damages my credibility’ or not. TBH I couldn’t care less if people don’t want to prepare - that’s their prerogative. I’m there for the ones who do and want some insight and help from someone who has put their money where their mouth is and got stuck in.

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Why can't those in charge of HMRC/Labour get this...so bleeding obvious.

By vras
21st Feb 2025 09:48
This MTD 'initiative' is rather like HMRC copying the HS2 project. A massively expensive project (already completely over budget and scaled back) just for one line from Birmingham to London, whilst the rest of the rail network is completely inefficient. HMRC should use this money to actually get HMRC functioning properly across the board (better training, actually answer telephones, visit businesses, etc.) before they dabble in MTD. What are they going to do with all this extra information? First, they will need skilled IT staff, massive computer storage and additional training. If a business is 'not declaring some income', they are not going to include it in any MTD submissions, so it will be meaningless. Get HMRC working properly first!

[etf]

MP Murray...another warning signal. How many do you need?

Early access for firms to register with Companies House as an authorised agent on a new system has been postponed the day before it was due to go live.

By Rob Swan
25th Feb 2025 10:42
Really? The day before release!
"identified areas that “require final testing”." In other words, they didn't actually do any proper 'testing'.

Well, That Figures (WTF)!!!

There's incompetence, there's stupidity, and then... there's Government IT.
I guess this means that MTD IT won't be postponed until early April '26?

[Lambs]

So... I have just watched the now-notorious TaxCalc webinar, and I found it very amusing.

Watching the software companies gently have to clarify HMRC's assurance that "there will be no penalties for filing of those deadlines [sic]" to "no penalties for late filing of the quarterly returns [during the testing phase]" finally to drag out the admission that yes, "there WILL [still] be penalties for late filing of your annual returns [testing phase or not]"... comedy gold - if you can wait about 25 minutes for the punchline.

Also, Benney's admission that she is scared, so by implication, yes, we should ALL be very afraid.

Also, Benney getting very stroppy with those viewers apparently suggesting that they would simply be sending in "£Nil" quarterly updates, which was very, very naughty... she perhaps needs to consider that, if HMRC wants to dance around whether these are "updates" or "returns", then she AND HMRC should have regard to what TMA 1970 currently requires of the Board - NOT of taxpayers - at TMA 1970 s 113(1). Which is one of the main reasons why HMRC is absolutely desperate to get out from under TMA 1970, and into a Brave New World where they get to write a new TMA ...probably with the help of ChatGPT, and with minimal oversight or constraint.

Penultimately, the admission that multi-business taxpayers (like RB herself) will be filing over a dozen "returns" a year, thanks to despite the promise - now a decade old - of "the death of the tax return".

Finally, did anyone else spot that Benney said she was going to have to hire c1.5 new staff JUST TO DEAL WITH ADDITIONAL MTD REQUIREMENTS? This in addition to the fact that software companies will be charging extra for licences for all this additional functionality... when HMRC's latest "estimate" of the cost of MTD to business -

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extension-of-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-self-assessment-to-sole-traders-and-landlords/making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-self-assessment-for-sole-traders-and-landlords#summary-of-impacts

- is that it will be just £110 per business, per year... do me a favour. Strange that despite there being over 400 comments from those viewing it live, the burgeoning costs seemingly did not feature sufficiently as to merit more serious scrutiny/discussion.

ps around 59:00 minutes in, where HMRC says of MTD, "We will unlock things that I cannot even describe"... maybe not, but we can imagine.

Regards All,

Lambs

[etf]

Lambs glad you enjoyed it....I haven't yet found the link, but hope someone will employ me to rake bunkers by the time this all goes live.

I have to admit Rebecca is my favourite tax lecturer and always seemed to be in touch with the real world....perhaps until now (Robert Jamieson a close second, but never sit in the front row when he does his impression of Tommy Fury).

HMRC have form for rewriting rules they do not obey...viz Taxpayers Charter....we will treat you fairly.....everyone penalised in one quarter, everyone let off in another (within the odd percentage point)....errhh Sir Jim (or earlier version) that doesn't sound very fair...shit etf has a point....rewrite the Charter to take that out.

Totally agree regarding costs too...and why submit something if nobody is going to look at it. And start with say VAT registered businesses only and see whether it works before punishing every Tom, Dick and Harriet.

To think an Oxford educated MP thinks this is a good idea...did he just invent that for his CV....Labour are as crap as the Tory party....seemingly getting everyone to do meaningless tosh instead of real work...hospitals advertising for doctors to work in corridors and no NHS dentists....little did I know the UK was peaking in the 1980s.

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Meant John Fury...yikes...hoping they don't read tax threads.

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PPS If MTD4IT does go live in 2026, I don't think Sir Jim should be permitted to retire until 12 months after it is introduced, so he can take the heat when it goes 'tits up'.

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I think Donald Trump is our last hope of avoiding MTD4IT....MP Murray....The President didn't like the idea so we have scrapped the project.