Recommendation 5

HMRC’s poor track record of repeated delays to the Making Tax Digital programme and its lack of conviction in its latest timetable gives us little confidence that it will deliver the rest of the programme on time. HMRC’s original delivery timetable for the programme was not realistic and did not reflect the scale of work required. There remains significant uncertainty about whether HMRC can deliver the remainder of the Making Tax Digital programme on time. The programme has experienced multiple issues that HMRC did not foresee, and further risks could emerge as the programme progresses. HMRC’s current plan for the introduction of Making Tax Digital for Self Assessment shows it needs to deliver many elements in parallel, such as raising awareness, pilot development and testing, and staff training. There is a lack of confidence in the programme among stakeholders. With major uncertainty remaining over its design choices, HMRC will have less time to work through and test the technical solutions, such as how data security will be achieved for taxpayers with multiple agents or how a free service will work for those with the simplest affairs. HMRC asserts that its new timetable allows for unanticipated design issues and policy announcements, but it would not rule out further delays to the programme due to unforeseen circumstances. HMRC has set itself a target of April 2025 to be ready for a near-unrestricted voluntary pilot of 1.6 million Self Assessment taxpayers with incomes over £30,000, leaving it less than two years to be ready. HMRC has yet to decide how it will communicate the changes required in Self Assessment to its customers. Recommendation 5a: HMRC should, as part of its Treasury Minute response, explain how it will assure itself that the timetable and budget for Making Tax Digital for Self Assessment is realistic and how it will use independent technical assurance and other sources of evidence to provide this assurance. b) If further changes to the delivery t