We all remember the poll tax in 1989 – don’t we? An ill-conceived project driven by ideology , rushed out, opposed by most stakeholders. And the result was a shambolic system which lasted a couple of years and did untold damage to public trust in the government.
Now – fast forward to 2017. The innocuous sounding “Making Tax Digital” is about to be launched on a generally unsuspecting business community. It starts in 2018 with very small businesses (those sole traders or landlords with turnover of less than £10,000) but will soon be rolled out to cover all businesses. It is being done in the name of “helping businesses minimise errors “ but in reality the government is unable to satisfy anyone how this will be achieved or what the savings will be. The Government estimates it will cost each business about £150 to introduce – the Federation of Small Business estimates it to be over £2000.
In reality it means increasing the number of tax returns submitted to HMRC from one per year – to six!!
And who is raising objections:
The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee
The Institutes of Chartered Accountants throughout the UK
The Federation of Small Businesses
……..and just about anybody else who has an interest in running a business
I predict that we will all be talking about Making Tax Digital in the not too distant future – but not in a good way!
