I dont get this, HMRC files our taxes for free already
I dont get this, HMRC files our taxes for free already
15 comments
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The Making Tax Digital initiative will mean you have to go through a software provider in future to file. So far it looks like these providers will all be commercial companies. Some may offer free products but its not guaranteed. Also their software will be proprietary, there are no open source providers (yet?)
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So... we're moving towards an american based system where we have to file our own tax returns now? This is a regression right?
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I think the comparison with America could be right!
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If you're PAYE, this is not really an issue, and if you're a large enough company to have salaried accountants/finance/payroll people, it's not an issue.
It's mainly a problem for the several million self-employed & small business owners.
Note that I mean "small business" like "a couple who own and run a small shop" or "a tradesperson with one employee" - not the government's definition of small business of "£10,000,000 a year and 50 employees".
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right, I did a bit of reading on it, and it's just a new system that requires to file your reciepts digitally and more often if you're a business owner
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Sort of, but it's a lot more than that - it's not just digitally - we already do that, and have been able to for a decade or so, through the HMRC tax website.
The change is that they're removing the option to file your taxes directly in this way (through the government's HMRC website) and forcing you to instead buy/subscribe/register with unnecessary commercial software, to allow you to pay your taxes. HMRC have not developed their own software to allow you to do this safely and freely.
Essentially this means you now have to pay extra money, or allow all your personal and financial data to be resused and sold on to 3rd parties, to be allowed to submit a tax return and pay your taxes.
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Yes my apologies, this only affects certain people/businesses who are required to submit tax returns, not everyone which I guess was your original question. Might have to add more explanation to our sidebar about who this impacts. Though note that it's not businesses only and if you circumstances change in future it could affect you:
The changes are expected apply to a wide range of taxpayers, including most businesses, micro-businesses, self-employed people and landlords, as well as individual taxpayers.
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15 comments
If your income is above 100k you need to file taxes as well
Which you could do on the HMRC website for free. I understand thats digital...
...but you can only file that way if the income is NOT from being a sole trader and NOT from property (like rental income) AND is below the thresholds (£50k in 2026, £30k in 2027, £20k in 2028) so far as I understand.