Small businesses could face a wait of up to 10 years before they see a return from investing in becoming compliant with Making Tax Digital, members of the House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee have heard. Calum Fuller reports

Farmers, small businesses and landlords are to give evidence to the Economic Affairs Finance Bill sub-committee on the government's Making Tax Digital project today

HMRC is to develop its own identity verification service for some taxpayers, rather than using the Gov.uk Verify online identity assurance service currently being developed by the Government Digital Service (GDS) as the standard ID platform for the public sector

HMRC is changing the format of its online forms to make them interactive which means that PDFs cannot be opened without upgrading to the latest version of Adobe Reader, which could interfere with existing software preferences on user PCs

Self employed businesses and sole traders who feel they may need more time to adjust to the requirements of Making Tax Digital could consider changing their accounting date, according to ICAEW

Last week saw an interesting few days. We had the vote on triggering Article 50 in the Commons and a day later the publication of the Brexit White Paper. Getting in just before the filing deadline of 31 January, HMRC’s response to the six consultations on Making Tax Digital landed with a thud. Jonathan Reilly, head of tax at Grant Thornton reacts to the digitisation plans  

Members of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill sub-committee have described the mandatory uptake of Making Tax Digital as ‘undemocratic’ as they continue their enquiries into the project’s rollout. Calum Fuller reports

HMRC’s £10,000 threshold for use of Making Tax Digital has been excoriated by members of the House of Lords economic affairs committee, who branded the proposal ‘ridiculous’

HMRC’s timetable for user testing for Making Tax Digital is rushed, while the level of communication between software developers and HMRC is inadequate and there is not enough detailed specifications about the IT requirements for the rollout, leading software company chiefs told Lords Committee. Sara White reports

Making Tax Digital must take account of the needs of small businesses says ACCA head of taxation Chas Roy-Chowdhury 

The government’s approach to handling public sector data breaches is ‘inconsistent and dysfunctional’ and it should do more to consolidate an ‘alphabet soup’ of agencies involved in the fight against cybercrime, according to a report from the public accounts committee (PAC)

HMRC plans to start testing the Making Tax Digital reporting system from April with an initial cohort of 100 or so testers in place for the pilot, with ambitious plans to expand the number of testers to the thousands by the autumn, reports Sara White