Rolling out Making Tax Digital may be too expensive for the project to remain credible, The Independent reports.
The NAO estimates that the cost of launching MTD is currently expected to be £1.3 billion, compared with HMRC’s estimate of £226m in 2016.
Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said: “The repeated delays and rephasing of Making Tax Digital have undermined the programme’s credibility and increased its costs. They put at risk the support of taxpayers and delivery partners, including those who are essential to the programme succeeding.
“HMRC’s plan to digitalise the tax system has the potential to improve the system’s efficiency and effectiveness. It has made some recent progress on VAT but it has not yet tackled the most complex elements of the programme and significant delivery risks remain.”
Making Tax Digital is a proposal to digitise taxes for self-employed people with income over £50,000 from 6 April 2026. Landlords would be obliged to switch the following year.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “I can safely say that in my 28 years of being a GP locum, I have never met another locum who looks forward to doing their tax return. So the prospect of HMRC developing a way to make the whole process simpler and easier, for the first time ever, brought a little bit of excitement into the world of doing one’s tax returns.
“At LocumDeck, we have been keeping a very close eye on HMRC’s Making Tax Digital’s progress, ready to integrate it into LocumDeck’s inbuilt accounts package, Bookkeeper, ready for the day when GP locum’s shackles are loosened from this burden.
“It looks like we’re going to have a little longer to wait. But in the meantime, thousands of GPs already benefit from LocumDeck’s fully automated pension forms, invoicing and sophisticated session confirmation system, all of which already channels all financial data into an easy to use package. When the day finally comes, LocumDeck will be ready to go.”
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