Has Making Tax Digital Been Put On Hold For Good?

Hello and welcome to our blog here at WHR Accountants, the premier accountancy service across Armagh and the surrounding areas. Today we are looking at the possible demise of the Making Tax Digital initiative which has seemingly been put on hold, at least until after the General Election.
The Conservative government had made a great fanfare of their Making Tax Digital plans but in a move which has surprised few experienced commentators the plans, along with large swathes of the proposed Finance Bill, have been shelved as other more populous topics take priority as the General Election looms. 

The Finance Bill 2017 Watered Down

The Finance Bill 2017 had been a whopping 762 pages long but now this has been reduced to approximately 140 pages with many legislative plans dropped including all of the Making Tax Digital clauses.

So is this the end for Making Tax Digital? Most financial experts certainly think not, many believing that the extra time this postponement has given the HMRC will mean that they produce a more structured and flexible model for businesses which will phase in companies at different junctures depending on their turnover, with smaller businesses joining later down the line. 

Indeed the general view is that the UK is still on course to become one of the most digitally advanced and sophisticated tax administrations in the world. It`s just this digital move is not going to happen as quickly as we once thought, but then again Rome wasn’t built in a day—-

Facebook Competition Winner

Finally we ran a competition on Facebook last week where we were giving 2 tickets away for the Balmoral Show. The Balmoral Show is Northern Ireland`s largest agricultural event and features all day entertainment with some incredible arena attractions, over 700 trade stands and a food pavillion featuring delicious local foods.

The winner of the draw was Jackie Johnston from Belfast who was delighted with her win saying: “Oh brilliant! Thanks so much, I love the show and going for free makes it even better.” Thanks for everyone who joined in and entered the competition and we hope that Jackie has a great time at the show, which I am sure she will.