Making tax digital for income tax delayed again

Making tax digital (MTD) for income tax self-assessment (ITSA) was originally scheduled to start in 2018 and was then put back to 2023 and then 2024. It was announced just before Christmas that the new system of submitting digital information quarterly to HMRC has been delayed yet again! The start date will now depend upon the gross business receipts of the individual.

Self-employed individuals and landlords with annual gross receipts above £50,000 will need to follow the rules for MTD for ITSA from 6 April 2026. Those with annual gross receipts between £30,000 and £50,000 will be mandated into the regime from 6 April 2027.

Whether MTD for ITSA will apply to those with gross receipts under £30,000 is under review but it would appear that the government have finally increased the starting threshold from £10,000, which they have resisted up until now.

Despite the delay in the mandatory start date for MTD for ITSA, businesses should nevertheless consider whether or not it would be beneficial to keep their business records digitally anyway.

The date when partnerships will be required to join MTD for ITSA has not been set and may be clarified in the March 2023 Budget.

However new tax year basis goes ahead

Although the start of MTD for ITSA has been delayed to 2026 at the earliest, the start date of the new regime for taxing the profits of unincorporated businesses on a tax year basis has not been delayed and the transition will still take effect in the tax year to 5 April 2024.

This will be a major change for those unincorporated businesses that prepare their accounts to a date other than 5 April or 31 March. From 6 April 2024 such businesses will need to compute their taxable profits from 6 April to 5 April each year, regardless of their accounting end date.

So, for a sole trader or partnership making up accounts to 31 December each year, their 2024/25 profits would be calculated as 9/12ths of their profits for the year ended 31 December 2024 plus 3/12ths of their profits for the year ended 31 December 2025.

This will invariably require the inclusion of an estimate of the profits of the later period with subsequent amendment once the final figures are known. For this reason many businesses may wish to consider changing their accounting date and we can of course advise you of the tax consequences.

More imminent is the change in the way that profits are to be taxed for the 2023/24 tax year. The upcoming tax year is scheduled to be a “transitional year” with complicated rules for calculating business profits. For many businesses the change will result in a higher tax bill and, if you can supply us with estimated figures, we can work with you to calculate the impact on your cash flow.

Please note that although MTD for ITSA will only apply to the self-employed and landlords initially, these tax year basis changes apply to all unincorporated businesses, including partnerships and LLPs, and those with profits of less than £50,000.

As mentioned before, those already preparing accounts to 31 March or 5 April are not affected.

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