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Government should delay complex digital tax plans,
UK farming unions say
The UK’s four farming unions are calling on Government to delay the new Making Tax Digital scheme for farm
businesses, many of whom will find it almost impossible to access.
ol lowing a joint
consultation
response on the
Making Tax Digital
draft legislation,
the NFU, NFU
Cymru, NFU Scotland and Ulster
Farmers’ Union fear that the
scheduled implementation will be
inaccessible for many farm
businesses and difficult to
implement properly.
F
“The Government proposes that
Making Tax Digital will bring
business tax into the digital age
but for many of our members
the digital age has yet to be
delivered to them by the
Government”
The complex scheme requires
access to digital infrastructure that
is not available in many rural
areas, as 5% of the population
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
does not have adequate access to
broadband – many of those
people are farmers.
NFU President Meurig
Raymond said: “Together we are
calling for the Government to
delay the implementation of
Making Tax Digital for farmers and
aligning the introduction with
larger partnerships and limited
companies.
“The Government proposes that
Making Tax Digital will bring
business tax into the digital age
but for many of our members the
digital age has yet to be delivered
to them by the Government.
“This fact, combined with
overwhelming complexity, is why
action is necessary. We have
serious concerns for those farm
businesses that will be among the
first forced to comply with these
changes and the issues this may
bring, not to mention the potential
costs involved.
“In its announcement, the
Government indicated that the
implementation of Making Tax
Digital would be delayed until 2019
for small businesses. Despite this,
the practical implications have not
been properly assessed.
Government must be clearer on
what information is required and
that the system is sufficiently
tested by farm business owners.
“There is insufficient time
available for the industry and
HMRC to achieve what is required
for this to work.”
The four UK farming unions
believe that farmers will have
considerable difficulty due to the
complexity of modern farm
businesses, two-thirds of which
run diversified enterprises,
requiring different accounting and
tax adjustments and potentially
separate income and expenditure
reporting. In addition to this, there
is a lack of suitable and registered
software that is compliant with the
proposed measures.
Farming’s seasonality
compounds this, meaning that
quarterly tax returns provide little
benefit to HMRC or farmers.
April 2017 | Farming Monthly | 07