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Press release: Vital new survey on Making Tax Digital open to all

11 December, 2019

Leading tax organisations are asking for feedback from tax professionals and businesses about their experience of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, as well as thoughts on the future of the MTD programme. The CIOT and ATT are keen to gather feedback and influence the next steps for MTD.1Leading tax organisations are asking for feedback from tax professionals and businesses about their experience of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, as well as thoughts on the future of the MTD programme. The CIOT and ATT are keen to gather feedback and influence the next steps for MTD.1

The CIOT and ATT are seeking feedback from not just their respective members but any tax agent and business, whether they have been affected by MTD for VAT or not, as they may be in scope for future phases of MTD.

Tina Riches, Chair of the joint CIOT/ATT Digital and Agent Strategy Working Group, said:

“We hope this will be one of the most comprehensive and crucial feedback exercises about MTD.

“We would like to ask agents and businesses to provide feedback on their experiences of MTD for VAT and their thoughts on the future of MTD, including for other taxes. Even if you have not had to deal with MTD for VAT, you can take part by completing the sections of the survey around next steps.

“We plan to feed the results of this survey, and a summary of respondents’ comments, into a submission to HMRC with the aim of helping inform and improve any future roll out of MTD for taxpayers, their agents, and HMRC.”

Most VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold are now required to keep records digitally and use MTD compatible software to submit their VAT Returns.

The survey addresses the transitional and ongoing costs for businesses and agents, benefits identified, and the impact on errors, as well as posing questions regarding the next steps for MTD. The closing date for responses to the survey is Tuesday 31 December 2019.

Tina Riches said:

“The greater the number of responses and comments we receive from agents and businesses, the more this will help us and HMRC. The Government has confirmed that MTD will not be mandated for any new taxes or other businesses until 2021 at the earliest.

“Back in 2015 the first announcement of MTD was made with no prior consultation having been undertaken.2 The result was that substantial parts of the community affected never bought into the rationale for it or key elements of its design, and indeed these had to be substantially revised. The Government should learn from this and take this opportunity of evidence that will come from this survey and other means to help shape where MTD goes in future.”

Notes for editors

  1. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete for agents or nine minutes for those who are not agents. If you are only completing the questions on the future of MTD, this will take less than five minutes.
  2. To reduce complexity, cut down costly errors and create a more stable, predictable environment for taxpayers, the Government must change the way it makes tax and budget decisions, argues the Better Budgets report in 2017 from CIOT, Institute for Government (IfG) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The report said there was not enough consultations at the start at the first stage of policy development – thinking about an issue and the whole range of possible policy responses.