The La-La land of Tax

31 Jan 2017

There is always one…this week Steven McKenzie in the Press and Journal (viewers of ‘Have I got News for Your’ may have heard of it) welcomes the introduction of HMRC’s Making Tax Digital scheme, arguing that the new digital accounts will result in a “cleaner, simpler system.”

He may be right when he predicts the switch to quarterly reporting will make it easier for people to keep on top of submissions, but the ‘dash to digital’ doesn’t respect the reality of the present.

The telling points come when he asserts that those firms which are not able to access digital technologies or are unable to use them will be offered alternatives, such as nominating someone else to update information on their behalf or providing information over the telephone instead.

Well, we at McLean Reid have the software to make available to clients and the skills to help them use it or to expand the book-keeping function slightly to incorporate quarterly filing, but anybody that still thinks they can file a tax return 4 times a year by phone has probably never tried to ring HMRC.

We have a flyer that cautions against taking advice from their helplines, please ask! Meanwhile, I’m off to the newsagents to get a copy of that magazine (Winter is here and we use newspaper to get the fire going).