MTD: exploring barriers and enablers

HMRC has published new research evaluating reasons why mandated businesses have not signed up to making tax digital for VAT. Lack of knowledge, information and skills were frequent barriers to MTD compliance, according to the report. The vast majority of businesses involved in the research were keen to comply with MTD and were often putting in considerable effort to comply, but had come up against gaps in their knowledge or skills or lacked key pieces of information needed to comply fully. Several factors in particular seemed to explain those gaps in knowledge and skills, including:

•        misunderstanding of the terms ‘digital’ and ‘digital links’;

•        struggling to operate MTD-compliant software;

•        fear of the unknown; and

•        missing one final piece of information.

Separately, HMRC has also published a case study highlighting how MTD has been seen as beneficial for some businesses, particularly where the online record-keeping requirement has ‘acted as a catalyst’ for moving to digital rather than paper-based records.