Making Tax Digital - paying to be taxed

PullingTheStrings

I've been self employed for 20 years and in that time have done my own accounts and filed my returns online myself. With MTD coming into play I find it wholly unreasonable that I should have to pay for a software to do the very thing I've done for free so far. Essentially paying to be taxed.

Does anyone else feel this is wrong? I'm aware that there are some free options out there, but they are very limited in scope and having done the HMRC's own questionnaire to filter the best software for my circumstances there were zero free options.

Is paying really the only option?

MattMattMattUK

PullingTheStrings said:

I've been self employed for 20 years and in that time have done my own accounts and filed my returns online myself. With MTD coming into play I find it wholly unreasonable that I should have to pay for a software to do the very thing I've done for free so far. Essentially paying to be taxed.

Does anyone else feel this is wrong? I'm aware that there are some free options out there, but they are very limited in scope and having done the HMRC's own questionnaire to filter the best software for my circumstances there were zero free options.

Is paying really the only option?

If you just want to type some figures in boxes and then submit then the free options are more than adequate, the paid options are mostly proper accounting packages so do a lot more than just allow MTD submissions. 

DE_612183

can't you download a version from HMRC - thats what I used to do - although it was a few years ago...

saajan_12

Agree it seems mad to encourage so many different softwares for small time self employed people and private landlords. Almost tending towards the American model of exploding the accountants industry rather than most people being able to self serve on a website and only complicated setups needing professional help. 

I'm not even that fussed about the cost, I understand it costs money to support software whether thats on the HMRC side or on the individual. But this seems like a very inefficient way to do it. 

tacpot12

I tend to agree with your assertion that there is something wrong with having to pay to be taxed, but most businesses pay for this, and see it as just one of the many costs of doing business. 

If the government was to provide the software to do this, they would a) be setting themselves up as a software provider to service a large number of customers b) subsidising the costs of these customers. Neither of these are 'wrong', but you can see how being the a software provider, and effectively being in competition with other software providers is a difficult decision. Subsidising the costs of small businesses is a question for parliament. 

You do receive tax relief for the cost of the software, but I think you should perhaps receive 100% relief for the cost of the software (upto some limit). There are societal benefits to having tax collected digitally and to small businesses having access to commercial accounting software at no cost.

Perhaps you should write to you MP.

 

GJS123

I completely agree that MTD is wrong.  Not only are HMRC suggesting that you now need to pay third-parties in order to submit your return, but those third-parties will also steal your personal financial data through their apps.

MTD was implemented for VAT some years ago.  I have been using "100% VAT Free Bridge" for this.  No charges (requests a donation to charity) and no data mining.  I've no experience with MTD for self-assessment, however, as I have an accountant that does it.

If you use an Excel spreadsheet to keep your books, try searching for bridging software.  This will allow you to transfer the relevant numbers in your spreadsheet to HMRC in a manner that keeps them happy.

'Hope this helps.

PHK

It's worth remembering that when you did your taxes, it wasn't free. It cost you however much your time was worth to do it. 

(Not defending electronic filing, just making the point)

mksysb

The most annoying thing is that none of them have all the features I want, and they are all quite expensive.

I could easily write a Python program to do exactly what I need and provide the output exactly as HRMC need, but as far as I can see they haven't published an API, and are just pushing you to use commercial programs don't have what I need and are bloated with stuff I'll never use. 

Chief_of_Staffy

If you have a business account with NatWest, RBS and maybe others you can get Freeagent for free. Which is just as well as I refuse to pay to submit my taxes.