As the government looks to press ahead with its Making Tax Digital (MTD) project, Mike Cherry, national chairman at the Federation of Small Businesses, outlines the major concerns of the UK’s small businesses, who will struggle to comply in such a short timeframe
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), alongside a number of other business groups, clearly stated early on that we were disappointed Making Tax Digital (MTD) and particularly mandatory quarterly tax reporting were announced with no forewarning, no prior consultation and no robust impact assessment.
There was no attempt to demonstrate the rationale for a set of proposals likely to cause significant disruption and transitional costs for millions of small firms. Our opposition to MTD isn’t universal. We recognise it will be of benefit for many small businesses, particularly those who have the resources and already use the digital software to adapt easily to the new requirements.
However, since the programme was announced in the 2015 Autumn Statement, we have actively engaged with HMRC to communicate our key concerns around the proposals, including on mandatory quarterly tax reporting. FSB has worked with HMRC throughout 2016 to organise a series of regional roundtables across the UK to raise awareness of MTD and the risks which small firms may face.
