The survey provides an opportunity for small businesses to have their say on the tax compliance issues affecting them and is open until 30 April.

With service levels at HMRC in decline and threats of closing the majority of helplines, it is really important for people to take part in this year’s survey.

Key topics include the experience of communicating with HMRC by phone and online, the quality of guidance and forms overall, and opinions on the quality of service provided by helpline advisers.

There are also questions on the impact of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for ITSA), IR35 off payroll working regulations, awareness of Time to Pay arrangements, and on the employment front, P11Ds and online filing for employee benefits, and the use of nomadic workers and prevalence of remote/home workers.

There is even a question about the use of ChatGPT to answer tax queries, and its reliability.

With the extension of Making Tax Digital in 2026, a set of questions focus on how small business and agents keep their accounting records as under the new system all income and expenditure will have to be submitted to HMRC using accounting software.

On MTD, one question asks whether spreadsheets or paper records are used, while there is also a section on compliance costs. As spreadsheets will no longer be accepted under MTD for Income Tax rules, ABAB is keen to understand how many businesses will be affected by the new rules and will face additional costs to comply.

ABAB challenges HMRC on its performance, providing robust scrutiny against key initiatives, such as Making Tax Digital and improving customer experience, and provides an annual report to Treasury ministers on HMRC.

Results from the survey will be published in September.

The closing date for responses is 30 April 2024. Click here to take part in the Tell ABAB Survey 2024

Useful links

ABAB 2023 report, HMRC telephone support for small businesses ‘poor’ 20 Sep 2023

Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB) website