Making Tax Digital as a project is not about tax at all. Rather, it is about digitising business, with the tax consequences incidental, or so advisers suggest. In wider policy terms, it is a process that stretches back as far as the introduction of iXBRL, technical manager of ICAEW’s tax faculty Anita Monteith explains.

With six initial consultations announced on 15 August and closing on 7 November 2016, and another on the requirements for businesses due by the end of the year, the timeline for full implementation by 2020 is tight by any standard.