Don’t wait for making tax digital

June’s National Audit Office (NAO) report Progress on Making Tax Digital and Public Accounts Committee meeting into making tax digital (MTD) are a chance to rethink HMRC’s approach to the programme and especially for MTD for income tax self assessment (ITSA).

In the words of the NAO HMRC faces ‘major work to complete on all the significant elements (restarting its pilot with business taxpayers moving tax systems and records and changing its internal processes)’. It also says that all this must be done ‘in parallel’.

If the constraint ‘in parallel’ is adjusted HMRC could find many of the tools are already in place to contribute to the policy goals for lessons to be learned and to provide evidence to support the MTD delivery.

Here are some suggested interventions built around principles of don’t wait descope and simplify.

Don’t wait

Recognise and...