Making Tax Digital: Plans to scrap Self-Assessment Tax returns delayed until April 2024

The delay has been agreed to provide “more time for those required to join to make the necessary preparations”.
 
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax effectively sees the Government scrapping Self-Assessment Tax Returns for sole traders, partnerships and landlords with gross income over £10,000 and replacing them with quarterly submissions to HMRC using MTD compliant accounting software.
 
The delay will also affect the introduction of the new penalty scheme for late filing and late payment of tax for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA) which will now be introduced for those in scope for MTD for ITSA in April 2024 and for all other income tax self-assessment customers from April 2025.
 
No change to Making Tax Digital for VAT deadlines
 
The postponement of MTD for ITSA does not affect the timetable for MTD for VAT.  All VAT registered businesses (regardless of their taxable turnover) will have to follow the MTD rules for their VAT returns from April 2022.