The introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) will fundamentally change the way businesses, the self-employed and landlords interact with HMRC. The new regime will require businesses and individuals to register, file, pay and update their information using a new online tax account.

The new regime is due to start in April 2019 for VAT purposes only, when some 1 million businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold will be required to keep their records digitally and provide their VAT return information to HMRC using MTD compatible software.

HMRC is also allowing a number of taxpayers and agents to use software to make Income Tax updates. This is part of a live pilot to test and develop the MTD service for Income Tax. As part of the MTD pilot taxpayers (or their agents) may be able to send Income Tax updates to HMRC on using software, instead of filing a Self Assessment tax return.

The introduction of MTD was first announced as part of the March 2015 Budget measures, and will ultimately see HMRC move to a fully digital tax system. An official launch date for the MTD service for Income Tax has yet to be announced, but it is unlikely to be before April 2020.