Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support his Department plans to provide to small businesses to meet the new requirements of Making Tax Digital.

HMRC have engaged extensively with representative bodies within business and with the accountancy and audit professions, as well as with software developers, to shape the design and implementation of MTD and to understand the potential impacts on businesses of all sizes.

HMRC will continue to work with stakeholders including businesses and their representatives in order to minimise costs and ensure effective support is in place during the transition.

HMRC are also committed to ensuring the availability of software products to meet the needs of those using MTD. HMRC have confidence that the software industry will provide free software products for VAT and ITSA, as well as products that incorporate business management tools.

Support for small businesses will be available directly from HMRC, for example through guidance, videos, webinars and software choices information, as well as through agents and software providers.

The Government published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) for the smaller VAT businesses being brought into MTD from April 2022 at Budget. The Government will publish further details on the impacts of MTD for Income Tax from April 2023 later this year.