Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to use technological innovation to simplify the process of filing tax returns.

The government is investing in HMRC’s digital services to simplify tax filing, improve accuracy and reduce burdens on taxpayers.

Improvements to digital journeys will make it easier for taxpayers to register, deregister or manage their obligations online, reducing the need for phone contact.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax will give sole traders and landlords an up-to-date view of their tax position during the year and reduce errors at the year end.

HMRC is also expanding the use of third-party data and pre-population across Income Tax Self Assessment, allowing returns to be completed more quickly without re-entering information HMRC already holds.

Where tax affairs are straightforward, HMRC also uses third-party data to issue Simple Assessments, removing the need for an Income Tax Self Assessment return altogether.