Only 3.3% of the people who have been dragged into the first batch of Making Tax Digital requirements have attended one of HMRC’s explanatory webinars. No one is ready for the coming carnage…
Making Tax Digital requires in-scope individuals to move from using the traditional Self Assessment portal and instead keep digital records in HMRC-recognised software and submit four quarterly updates per year, followed by a Final Declaration. It is dragging increasing numbers of self-filers into the system:
HMRC have been running – and advertising – webinars for different groups on the system since 10 April last year. Guido’s FOI Unit has found that up to 2 April this year there were only 15,069 attendees of any webinar for landlords and joint property owners, and only 13,436 attendees of any webinar for sole traders or landlords without an accountant or bookkeeper. That is 28,505 attendees in total which is 3.3% of this year’s additions to the system…
It is also 0.98% of the total 2.9 million to join the system by the end of the Parliament. HMRC says: “We are continuing to facilitate MTD educational webinars and have events currently scheduled up to the end of June 2026.” After that you’re on your own…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”