A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) stated that the additional revenue from Making Tax Digital for 2020-21 was 45% lower than originally expected. However, the NAO expect that by 2027-28 Making Tax Digital should raise an additional £2.9bn for the tax authority.

Against this, the costs of the programme between 2016-20 totalled £244m with a further £528m expected to be raised for 2021-26. However, the NAO expected that the taxpayer will face a one-off transitional cost of around £1.5bn as a result of the forthcoming extension of the Making Tax Digital programme.

The extra cost will cover the cost of the new software.