Extension of Making Tax Digital scheme – AAT comment
Brian Palmer, former president at AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) and a member of AAT’s Tax Panel, comments on the government’s announcement today to extend its tax digitisation programme to the UK’s smallest companies from April 2022.
Mr Palmer said:
“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, 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 (17 July), an imminent announcement over the future of MTD was expected.”
Commenting on the announcement, Mr Palmer added:
“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 being one of the most digitally advanced administrations in the world. Although, 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.”
