The Treasury minister responsible for HMRC has urged those ‘knowledgeable’ about Making Tax Digital (MTD) to share what they know as it ‘is not something government can do’

The call for accountants and tax advisers to take more responsibility for promoting MTD came from James Murray, Exchequer secretary to the Treasury, as the latest research shows 39% of directors do not even know what MTD is.

 

As MTD for Income Tax is fast approaching for those with non-PAYE income of more than £50,000 many are still not up to speed with the change that is coming in from April 2026.

The number of those aware of the upcoming MTD changes is still not rising as 39% of business owners claim to have never heard of it, and 19% of those that had heard of it do not know how it will work.

 

At a recent panel event hosted by FreeAgent and attended by Murray, who is also chair of HMRC, it was also shared that 17.6% of small businesses believe MTD will have a negative impact on their businesses.

 

One in five (19%) business directors surveyed by FreeAgent said they did not understand what MTD even was and more shockingly almost 39% said they had never even heard of it, showing that HMRC has a lot more to do before this is rolled out next year.

 

Murray said: ‘When we came into office last July, we inherited plans around Making Tax Digital.

 

‘My colleagues at HMRC won’t mind me saying I gave them a bit of a hard time over the summer. So, I really want to stress test these plans, but I feel in a really strong position now working with Craig [Craig Ogilvie, HMRC’s director of MTD] and his colleagues about delivering to the timetable that we set out.’

 

Murray said it needed to be a joint effort to educate small businesses about MTD, stressing it should be a ‘shared endeavour that we achieve together’ and ‘corporate cooperation and collaboration’ was important to him.

He added that businesses were beginning to digitise and improve their technologies so he believes it is ‘just the right time for MTD’, despite 39% either not being aware at all about the changes and almost 20% of directors still unaware of what they will need to do.

 

Murray said: ‘We shouldn’t underestimate there is an education job to be done there because I think when change happens, you know, people have questions, people wonder how it’s going to impact them.

 

‘People, you know, rightly want to know what this will mean for their day to day working lives. But I think making that case, explaining to people how not only will it make their lives easier, but there are also low cost and free software options for many people if that’s right for them, and there are more advanced software options which can help them to improve their businesses.’

 

The chair of HMRC then urged the accountants, tax advisers and software vendors in the audience to talk about MTD and share what they know ‘in the coming months’.

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This is not something that government can do on its own, this is not what HMRC and ministers and government just go off and tries to sort,’ Murray said.

 

Ogilvie, who was also in attendance, added: ‘The best way businesses can prepare is by joining our early testing programme, to get used to and prepare for the changes ahead.

 

‘Through direct communications, letters, webinars, live events, social media and marketing, we’re doing everything we can to make people aware, informed and ready for MTD for Income Tax.’