The ‘Making Tax Digital’ proposals outlined by the Government in a series of discussion documents in mid-December did not go unnoticed, even in the pre-Christmas rush.
Both business taxpayers and tax professionals have reacted with alarm at the prospect of supplying current financial information online at least every three months by 2020. Even more disturbing is the clear intention that this information will be used to accelerate tax payment deadlines for unincorporated businesses, smaller companies and landlords.
HM Revenue & Customs has promised a series of consultation events in January and February to discuss the plans with stakeholders. However, given that the fair and efficient working of the proposed structure is dependent upon a big-ticket, properly integrated IT system, people would be justified in looking at the proposals with some scepticism.
One only has to consider the £10 billion NHS computerised records debacle of recent past to know that such massive changes are rarely implemented smoothly. Indeed, why should anyone trust HMRC to be able to achieve such lofty IT goals when the department has recently been publically criticised for a failure to answer phone calls in time.