MTD will not save costs

Nearly three-quarters of members surveyed by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) say HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) project will fail to deliver any time or cost savings.

The association surveyed 4 200 accountants after publication of the HMRC consultation documents on MTD. Fully 71% of AAT licensed accountants felt that no time or cost savings would be delivered. Some 19% were uncertain and just 10% felt that there would be some savings.

Members supported many of the proposals in the documents but opposition to some primarily cost savings and data security was evident.

Other key survey findings included support for simplifying tax for unincorporated businesses and for the cash basis for unincorporated property businesses; a split as to whether the voluntary pay as you go proposals were a good idea with 27% thinking they were; and unease about the potential corruption misuse or loss of data...