Taxman’s U-turn over online filing for small businesses

Tomorrow the government should report that over a million of small companies are free from the mandatory posting of their tax returns every 3 months.

The Treasury still wants to implement its plans on making the companies post the data online. However, the idea is still opposed by the representatives of the small and mid-sized business niche, as they pay lots of money for the accounting software.

As the dispute continues, it should be announced that 1.3 million companies are free from the mandatory posting of the data online every 3 months.

There are also intentions to defer the quarterly online reporting with HM Revenue & Customs, so maybe the further group of companies will become free soon.

The intention was welcomed by the respective business groups.

According to the chairman of the FSB, Mike Cherry, they are talking about this with the government for a long time and the fact that they listen to them is good news.

About 1.6m enterprises — mainly sole traders and people running a business on the side — were already exempt from the plans.

“Removing small businesses and the self-employed with modest turnovers altogether from the proposals would mean that half of the UK’s 5.4m small companies would not be affected. The offer of direct financial assistance and a longer lead-in time will also help,” Cherry said.

The “Making tax digital” initiative — which was first announced by the then chancellor George Osborne in last year’s budget — is intended to eliminate the need for an annual tax return by 2020.

“By replacing the annual tax return with simple, digital updates, businesses will be able to concentrate on putting people and profit, not paperwork, first,” said Jane Ellison, the financial secretary to the Treasury.