Ranter's Rant: HMRC's Making Tax Digital Project – A Pointless, Costly Burden on Small Businesses and the Self-Employed
HMRC's Making Tax Digital initiative denounced as purposeless by a significant accounting company
Hear me out, fellow taxpayers! The powers that be at HMRC have cooked up a fresh Hell for us – their Making Tax Digital (MTD) project. In a nutshell, this plan requires taxpayers to report quarterly rather than annually, and it's about to make your administrative nightmares a hideous reality!
The self-proclaimed geniuses at HMRC say that MTD is some sort of miracle – it'll make you better accountants, more efficient, and less prone to errors. But don't let them fool you, dear friend. This ain't some magical solution; it's just another way for them to stick their noses deeper into your business by heaping more bureaucratic nonsense upon you!
Hang on, I can see your faces – still thinking this might be a good idea? Let me paint a vivid picture of what 2026 and beyond will look like:
- From April 2026, those with a gross income of £50,000 or more will be shackled to quarterly reporting and tax filings. Can you feel the shackles tightening already?
- By 2027, the threshold drops to £30,000. And of course, we can't forget the lowly class of earners with less than £20,000 – they'll have to join the party from 2028. Don't think for a second that they'll be let off easy.
- And what do they call these new, delightful, and entirely pointless quarterly filings? The government has so generously bestowed upon us the term "income tax." I guess "pain in the arse, induced by oppressive taxation" was too difficult to say.
HMRC claims that MTD will make it easier for businesses to manage their tax affairs, but if you're anything like me, you've probably got your taxes under control with a good old-fashioned spreadsheet and the Government Gateway. That's precisely why this new system is a steaming heap of bull!
In case you're still buying their lies, let me break it down:
- You'll need to pony up for expensive third-party software to do your filings – forget the easy, free methods you've been using!
- Save yourself the time spent on admin tasks? Dream on! MTD will mean more work, more time spent worrying about taxes, and less time doing what really matters – making money.
- Lose money on input errors? Not if you ask me, you won't! I can tell you from personal experience that you're just as likely to screw up using an MTD platform as any other method. Trust me, numpties will still be filling out forms backward and tilting their screens Sideways in the hope they'll find the "easy" button.
So, let's review the situation:
- More work for everyone!
- No actual change in your tax liabilities or payment dates.
- The government expects you to swallow a mountain of extra costs because they "can't forget to mention a few benefits," even though those benefits are already available for free.
It's time to ask yourself a critical question: what's the point of MTD? I doubt you can find a satisfactory answer!
Business owners and the self-employed may face increased financial burdens as they will need to invest in new third-party software for the HMRC's Making Tax Digital (MTD) project, which could potentially increase administrative costs and reduce earnings due to additional workload associated with quarterly reporting. Furthermore, it remains unclear how this new system will provide significant benefits that outweigh the costs and the extra work required, leading to questions about the practicality and necessity of the MTD project.
