.png)
.png)
The recent CIOT/ATT survey (tinyurl.com/ciotattmtdsurvey) on members’ attitudes to making tax digital (MTD) reveals the paradox at the heart of the project. One of the respondents expressed it thus: ‘HMRC have bigger problems with levels of staff and taxpayer satisfaction that need addressing before implementing these changes.’ In other words ‘forget all this MTD nonsense and just answer the phones’.
The paradox is, of course, that one of the drivers of MTD as far as HMRC is concerned is to make as many taxpayer interactions with the department digital only so that the phone lines are only used as an exception rather than as a first point of call.
I don’t have a problem with this as a matter of principle. Most of my interactions with banks, utilities and the like these days are online and I only use the telephone as a matter of last resort. I’m not alone in this. But the key is that these online services generally work well because they have been designed with the user in mind. Most of the people I speak to, who are generally well disposed to the principle of digitalisation, feel that MTD has been designed round the needs of HMRC rather than the taxpayer. I am not sure that this is totally fair, but there is no doubt that HMRC has a huge job to do in convincing the tax community that its digital plans will (a) work, and (b) be to the benefit of everybody, taxpayers, agents and HMRC alike.
It would be quite wrong for HMRC to give up on its digital ambitions – quite the opposite. But it must have the courage to acknowledge that the project has lost its way and needs fundamental reappraisal.
If you do one thing...
If you deal with the creative sector, read HMRC’s updated guidance in its museums, orchestra and theatre tax reliefs manuals.
