Dafferns

Delay to Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax Self Assessment

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Victoria Atkins, announced that there would be a 2-year delay to the  introduction of MTD for income tax, meaning its introduction will commence April 2026.

Furthermore, the income thresholds have been increased to £50,000 from April 2026, and £30,000 from April 2027 before falling within the new requirements.  

MTD for partnerships will not go ahead in 2025 and no date has been set as yet for its introduction.

The tax profession welcomes this delay to allow time to identify the digital tools needed to make this system meet its objective of making it easier for taxpayers to get their tax right.

While there is consensus that digital record keeping will improve accuracy, it is still unclear why it is necessary to report on a quarterly basis.  

This new system will undoubtedly add to the cost of compliance for those taxpayers mandated to report under this system but what purpose does HMRC have for requiring the data on a quarterly basis when there is no plan to change the timing of tax payments?