At the 2015 Budget, the government set out its vision for a new tax system and launched its Making Tax Digital Roadmap in December 2015. Because of the scale of the potential changes, the government’s consultation process will consist of six separate consultations, focusing on specific customer groups or specific elements of the Making Tax Digital reforms. These different consultations may not all be relevant to your business, but there are sure to be some that are.

The six consultations set out detailed plans on how the government proposes to make tax digital and to simplify the tax system, covering:

• How digital record keeping and regular updates will operate
• Options to simplify tax for unincorporated businesses, including how the self-employed map accounting periods onto the tax year, extending cash basis accounting and reducing reporting requirements for unincorporated businesses
• Extending cash basis accounting to unincorporated property businesses, making life simpler for landlords
• How the voluntary pay as you go arrangements announced at this year’s Budget will work
• Changes to tax administration to effectively underpin compliance with Making Tax Digital and ensure the government has a fair and proportionate penalties regime
• How HMRC will make better use of the information it currently receives from third parties to provide a more transparent service for customers.

Consultation documents

Here you can find more information and the consultation documents that you will need >

There is more information available on the government’s Making Tax Digital pages too, including a myth-buster PDF, case studies and videos.

The consultation period began on Monday 15 August and runs until midnight on Monday 7 November.

Tax and regulatory support on our Business Support pages

Visit the Tax and Regulation section of our Business Support pages for information on tax relief, business rates, licences and trading standards, plus useful online guides and resources.