NAO report on HMRC’s making tax digital project

Official acknowledgement that the introduction of MTD for income tax has not gone smoothly will hardly come as news to Taxation readers. The heady days of the chancellor’s 2015 announcement of the death of the tax return are long gone: instead we have had a pattern of repeated delays and more and more concern from the tax community that the whole project has completely lost its way.

This week the National Audit Office (NAO) has published Progress on Making Tax Digital. I have to say straight away that this is a devastating report and one which must lead to a complete rethink of the government’s whole approach to digitalisation of income tax. I can’t see how HMRC and ministers can ignore the very severe criticisms made of the handling of the project to date or the many concerns expressed about the future direction of MTD.

It gives me no pleasure...