Do you have an accountant helping you with Making Tax Digital for Self-Assessment?
Do you have an accountant helping you with Making Tax Digital for Self-Assessment?
A Senior HMRC official has claimed that the Making Tax Digital (MTD) rollout is ‘on track’ but 40% of sole traders and landlords are without an accountant or bookkeeper as the April deadline looms!
The main concern appears to be that many sole traders and landlords are simply not ‘fully aware’ of the upcoming requirements under the new tax filing rules.
From 6 April 2026, sole traders, self-employed individuals and landlords with gross income over £50,000 will be required to keep digital records on accounting software and will have to submit quarterly submissions to HMRC followed by a year-end statement. Qualifying income does not include dividends, only property income and self-employed earnings.
Based on HMRC figures, 864,000 taxpayers will have to file under MTD for Income Tax in the first wave. However, 40% of the initial cohort are unrepresented by a tax adviser, bookkeeper or accountant; this means that nearly 350,000 people will have to file using digital software without support.
HMRC are now believed to be focusing on the ‘unrepresented group’.
In terms of problem areas with low representation, HMRC have said: ‘Construction is a really big one, many are in the construction sector, and many do not keep records. So, we are targeting those sectors through communications or through their sector bodies.’
Following the first rollout of MTD in 2026, HMRC have also confirmed that plans to rollout MTD in 2027 for those earning £30,000, and in 2028 for those earning £20,000 was still going ahead.
HMRC have said: ‘At the moment, MTD does not change payment dates, only the reporting information. We see problems in this cohort (sole traders and landlords) where people don’t keep good records.’
‘We think keeping record in software and updating on a quarterly basis will encourage people to have that near real time record keeping, we think it will increase compliance and bring in additional yield.’
Here at Kennedys Accounting we are ready to work with you, whichever sector you are in. If you need assistance with MTD – just get in touch and we will take you through the process.