AAT comments on the extension of the Making Tax Digital scheme

Brian Palmer, former AAT President and a member of our Tax Panel, has commented on the government’s announcement that it will extend its tax digitisation programme to the UK’s smallest companies from April 2022.

"With all that’s been happening in 2020 you could be forgiven for thinking that HMRC has lost its enthusiasm for Making Tax Digital (MTD). However, as reported yesterday, HMRC’s MTD programme will be extended to firms with turnover below the VAT threshold of £85,000 at the start of the 2022 financial year and to the self-employed and unincorporated landlords for income tax purposes from April 2023. We’ve been following this issue closely at AAT and, as we reported last week, an imminent announcement over the future of MTD was expected.

"This clear and unequivocal statement of its commitment to the digitisation of the UK tax regime is a confident move by the government that will see the delivery of HMRC’s ambition to be one of the most digitally advanced administrations in the world. But of even greater importance is that the drive to digital will see many of the smallest businesses benefit from increased productivity as they start to exploit the enhanced functionality available to them from apps and cloud-based accounting products.”