Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Latest News - MTD for ITSA delayed until April 2024

In a Statement issued on 23 September 2021, it was confirmed that MTD for ITSA would be delayed by a further year, and states that:

• MTD for ITSA will be introduced from April 2024 for sole traders and landlords
• General partnerships will not be required to join MTD for ITSA until April 2025

The statement also indicates that any reform of the basis period rules will not take place until April 2024, with a transitional year not coming into effect earlier than April 2023.

What is MTD for Income Tax Self-Assessment?

Under the requirements of MTD for ITSA, individuals who are subject to income tax on the profits of their trade, profession, vocation or property business will be required to keep their accounting records electronically (either using suitable software or on spreadsheet) and file quarterly returns to HMRC with details of their income and expenditure together with any other information that HMRC specifies. A final end of period statement will then be submitted after the tax year to complete the individual’s tax affairs.

Although the frequency of reporting is to change, the timing of tax payments will not and the current system of payments on account and balancing payment by 31 January after the tax year is expected to remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Timetable for MTD for Income Tax Self-Assessment

Sole traders and landlords with gross income over £10,000 will need to comply from 6 April 2024, regardless of their accounting period end.

The rules will apply from April 2025 to general partnerships with business or property income that only have individuals as partners.  All other partnerships (e.g. those that have corporate partners and Limited Liability Partnerships) are not required to join MTD for ITSA in April 2025 but will be required to join MTD at a future date to be confirmed.

Exemptions from MTD for Income Tax Self-Assessment

Income threshold

In order to be within scope, the individual must have total business or property income above £10,000 per year.

The threshold of £10,000 applies to gross income or turnover, not profit, and it applies to the total gross income where the individual or entity has more than one trade or property business. For example, if the individual has £6,000 of rental income and £7,000 of sales from a sole trader business, they will exceed the limit and be in scope.

Digital exclusion

In line with the exemptions for MTD for VAT, individuals should not have to follow the MTD for Income tax rules if any of the following apply:

• It’s not reasonably practicable for them to use digital tools to keep their business records or submit quarterly returns due to age, disability, remoteness of location or any other reason (often referred to as ‘digital exclusion’).
• They are subject to an insolvency procedure.
• The business is run entirely by practising members of a religious society or order whose beliefs are incompatible with using electronic communications or keeping electronic records.

Where any of the above apply, the individual has to apply to HMRC to claim an exemption, with HMRC having 28 days to either grant or deny the application.

We understand that where a business has already qualified for an exemption from MTD for VAT, they will also be exempt from MTD for ITSA.

Other exemptions

The following are also exempt from MTD for ITSA:

• Non-resident companies
• Trustees, executors and administrators
• Foreign businesses of non-UK domiciled individuals.

Reporting requirements

Quarterly updates

All businesses within MTD for ITSA will have to provide quarterly updates of their income and expenses for the following periods, by the following deadlines, regardless of their accounting period end:

Alternatively, businesses can make a 'calendar quarter election' which allows them to draw up quarterly updates to the end of the previous month.  Where this election is made, the quarterly updates will be as follows:

Separate quarterly updates will be required for each trade or property business carried on by an individual.  There is no requirement to make tax or accounting adjustments to the information provided in quarterly updates.

Draft legislation sets out the categories of income and expenses which will need to be reported in the quarterly updates.  This also confirms that, where a business has an annual turnover below the VAT registration threshold, it may choose to provide the total of all income and the total of all expenses in the quarter, instead of the totals of the amounts falling within each category of transaction.

End of Period Statement (EOPS)

The EOPS performs a similar role to the self-employment or property pages on the current ITSA return – that is making the required tax and accounting adjustments and finalising the tax position of the trade or business.

The EOPS will, following the implementation of basis period reform, be required to cover the tax year (regardless of the accounting period of the business) and will be due for filing by the normal self-assessment deadline of 31 January following the relevant tax year.

A separate EOPS will be required for each trade or property business carried on by an individual.

Final declaration

Filing the EOPS alone is not enough to finalise a taxpayer’s affairs for any one tax year. Instead, they will also need to submit a final declaration or crystallisation. This will bring together all business and personal information needed to determine their final tax liability, including information from EOPS and information on non-MTD sources of income like dividends and interest.

Unlike the EOPS, only a single final declaration will be required for each taxpayer. This is due by the normal self-assessment deadline of 31 January following the relevant tax year.

Further information and guidance

Software

Individuals within MTD for Income tax will be required to use software to keep their records and submit returns to HMRC via their Application Programming Interface (API).

There are essentially three different types of MTD compliant software:

• Software packages that can be used to keep digital records and file returns via HMRC’s API.
• API enabled spreadsheets – spreadsheets with an inbuilt function allowing them to file returns via HMRC’s API.
• Bridging software which can take return information from an existing spreadsheet and submit this to HMRC via their API.

Where a spreadsheet is used, the relevant data must be digitally transmitted from the spreadsheet or other source where the digital records are kept, directly to HMRC. The summary information for completion of the quarterly and final returns must not be physically re-typed into another software package.

Abacus will be able to advise on appropriate compliant software.

Get in touch – with any of our Team for more information and advice on MTD ITSA