‘Making Tax Easier’ and digital tax accounts

At spring Budget 2015 the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced the ‘end of the tax return’, and HMRC published ‘Making Tax Easier: The end of the tax return’.

In this, HMRC set out their vision for modernising the tax system. This includes replacing tax returns with digital tax accounts for individuals and businesses. By early 2016 HMRC say that five million small businesses and 10 million individuals will have access to their own secure personalised digital tax account. These accounts will bring into one place HMRC services and information. Of particular interest to our members will be HMRC’s statement that taxpayers will be able to let agents manage their digital tax accounts on their behalf.

HMRC have recently published two roadmaps which show how they are developing and testing the digital tax accounts. The roadmaps can be accessed at:

• Business Tax Account Roadmap
• Personal Tax Account Roadmap

More information can also be found on the HMRC blog. Both CIOT and ATT will be meeting HMRC in the months ahead to discuss these changes in more detail, and later this year HMRC say they will formally consult on how they will deliver the changes needed.

We would welcome input from members about these forthcoming changes, and we will continue to update members on developments through Technical Newsdesk and our websites.