Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment - CIOT and ATT survey

12 Dec 2022

Results of a survey of tax professionals carried out by CIOT and the Association of Taxation Technicians in December 2022.

This survey was undertaken in the first half of December 2022. We received 332 responses.

The survey questions, and a summary of the responses (excluding freeform comments), are below: 

Q1 - Do you think that Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA), in its current form, can be successfully introduced from April 2024? [select one]

Yes3%
No97%

Q2 - If no, what do you think should happen next? [select no more than two]

Pause the project, and consult on the future of MTD47%
Carry on, but on a voluntary basis and only make mandatory when all MTD processes have been proven to work31%
Announce a blanket deferral and make mandatory at a fixed future date8%
Carry on, but with a significant increase to the £10k turnover threshold29%
Carry on, but defer specific groups eg landlords14%
Other (please specify)12%

Q3 - How do you feel about the following aspects of MTD for ITSA implementation?


Very comfortableGenerally comfortableUncomfortable
Taxpayer awareness0%6%94%
Your / agents' awareness13%63%24%
Taxpayer ability to comply0%6%94%
Your / agents’ capacity and resources to support clients2%35%63%
HMRC’s capacity and resources to support taxpayers and agents0%3%97%
Availability of suitable software5%30%65%
Cost to clients1%7%92%
Your / agents’ ability to charge for your time2%15%83%
Impact on the 'tax gap' (ie that MTD for ITSA will reduce it)2%12%86%
Something else (see 'Other' below)3%14%83%

Q4 - How useful do you think the following elements of MTD for ITSA will be for businesses?


Very usefulSomewhat usefulNot useful
Keeping records digitally18%56%26%
Digital links between digital records12%39%49%
Quarterly reporting (to ensure timely record keeping)3%33%64%
The quarterly tax estimate following the quarterly update3%25%72%
The End of Period Statement8%35%57%
The Final Declaration (aka the tax return)34%43%23%