HM Revenue and Customs has been accused of giving too little support to those faces with the Making Tax Digital system in the near future.
From April 2026, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD ITSA) will become mandatory for self-employed individuals and landlords in the UK earning over £50,000 annually.
This new system requires digital record-keeping and the use of HMRC-approved software to submit quarterly updates of income and expenses, replacing the traditional single annual tax return.
A final digital declaration will still be required by January 31 following the end of the tax year.
Businesses will need to invest in compatible software and may face additional administrative or accountancy costs. The shift also brings a new penalty system: missing quarterly deadlines could lead to fines and interest charges, adding pressure on businesses to stay organised throughout the year.
An analysis by finance firm RIFT claims to show too little support from HMRC.
The analysis shows that there has been a huge surge in online search volumes by those looking for information on how to get compliant ahead of next year’s deadline.
In Q3 of last year, an average of 8,760 searches for ‘Making Tax Digital’ were made each month.
This remained largely consistent at 8,386 per month during Q4, however, this figure climbed to 19,819 on average per month during the first three months of this year, driven by a spike of 34,017 searches in March.
So far in Q2 (April and May) of this year, searches for information on the subject of ‘Making Tax Digital’ have surged again, this time to an average of 43,648 searches per month.
Additional analysis of data on HMRC response times, conducted by RIFT, suggests that this increased search for information has been driven by an increased difficulty to make contact with HMRC.
The analysis shows that in January of this year, just 82.3% of all calls to HMRC were handled, down from a recent peak of 90.2% in October 2024. This figure fell again in February of this year to just 80.9% – the lowest level in the last six months.
At the same time, some 245,952 calls were not handled by HMRC in October of last year, with this figure falling to 213,747 in December. So far this year, 599,057 calls went unhandled in January, with 516,629 not handled in February.
What’s more, the average speed of answer has increased from just 10 minutes 40 seconds in October 2024 to 21 minutes 04 second in February of this year.
A RIFT spokesperson says: “HMRC simply isn’t equipped to facilitate the surge in demand for its guidance and advice ahead of such a notable change and it’s clear that many are having to seek their own answers via the internet.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today