Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital-whose responsibility is it?

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As a sole practitioner I have completed loads of readings on this subject.  I always come back to the same thing and find myself asking all the time:

Whose responsibility is it to submit digital quarterly returns to HMRC?  For example, why have HMRC directed only at accountants and not written directly to individual taxpayers about their future duties and responsibilities regarding MTD.  It looks like to me they have only loaded it onto accountants and accountancy firms because it is easy.  The feedback I am getting from clients is 'why?' and 'are you sure I have to comply?'  I just do not understand that in this free and democratic country we have been forcefed this new way of complying with the latest HMRC initiative other than to fill some big hole in the government finances. 

My beef is not with Making tax Digital which can be a good thing other than its costs: but with the responsibility being loaded onto us as accountants.  Eg I have never heard an advert about MTD on radio/TV or direct letters to clients.  What do other accountants think?  Am I wrong in my thinking?  As we know after one year HMRC will load interest /penalties etc onto taxpayers/or is it accoutants and as usual we all fall into line-as usual.    

Replies (12)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
20th Mar 2018 18:08

Obviously, the less people who know about it, the less votes potentially lost.

I agree with you - the publicity beyond the accountancy profession has been very poor and, in my cynical way, I suspect that that's a deliberate policy.

Baffled by the need to post this anonymously, though.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
20th Mar 2018 18:17

“Baffled by the need to post this anonymously, though.”

I was just thinking the same, as with his/her other thread immediately following. Maybe their real ID is ‘HMRC’

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the sea otter
By memyself-eye
20th Mar 2018 19:18

Free and democratic?
This is HMRC we are talking about....

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By SteveHa
20th Mar 2018 20:53

The lack of publicity was one of the things I highlighted to my MP when I met him on Saturday to discuss MTD generally (and to give him a bollocking with the other 600 & odd who nodded it through without a thought).

I saw why it was nodded through as his eyes glazed over in befuddlement.

Hopefully, by the time I'd explained it all to him, he has a better idea about what he and the rest of them have done, exactly.

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By John Stone
21st Mar 2018 15:16

They will have to formally notify actual taxpayers at some point both from a legal point of view and because not all VAT registered businesses are represented by agents anyway.

Of course - once the official notifications have gone out, it will be harder for HMRC to perform the U turn on timing we are all half-expecting. So perhaps they are holding fire on this one for that reason.

Just who they will notify is another puzzle as some VAT registered businesses will be hovering around the £85000 turnover mark. How will HMRC know who is in and who is out? Might they perhaps base it on turnover in the four most recent VAT Returns or might they place the onus on taxpayers to opt in? Is this in the small print already released?

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By bernard michael
21st Mar 2018 15:35

In answer to your question it is the client's responsibility to file the returns. If they choose to use an agent eg accountant it's up to them.
Looked at another way it's extremely helpful for HMRC to educate accoutants who can then sell the MTD service to the clients

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By muppet1903
21st Mar 2018 19:19

I think that hmrc hope that much of the work will be done for them by agents who seem to actually be doing the thinking behind the scenes, so perhaps we are free labour for hmrc purposes.

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By moneymanager
23rd Mar 2018 11:07

"other than to fill some big hole in the government finances." There you have it.

I was chatting the other day with a neighbour about the sheer range of aggressive and just plain daft moves by government from outrageous treatment of film related tax relief (yes, I know some were dodgy at best), Osbourne's Section 24 tax on non existent income and many more including MTD; there was mutual conclusion that many such moves were at least partly driven by the need to coffer fill without putting up tax rates (so as not to scare the horses), he's a corporation tax inspector.

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By Janski
23rd Mar 2018 11:19

Bottom line, there's a requirement for the taxpayer to do something, if we do it for them we keep the business and earn something. Otherwise another business will do it earning their crust, and we'll starve!

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By Duggimon
23rd Mar 2018 11:51

HMRC have stated they see it as a waste of resources to begin advertising the change more than six months in advance as people will just forget about it if it's too far off in the future. The ad campaign is scheduled to start in October.

Source: IRIS Making Tax Digital Roadshow, this was apparently communicated to them directly from HMRC.

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Replying to Duggimon:
RLI
By lionofludesch
23rd Mar 2018 16:02

Quote:
The ad campaign is scheduled to start in October.

What year ?

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By TonyUK
16th Apr 2018 15:47

And where is parliamentary approval for this dictatorial measure?

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