The Income Tax (Digital Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2024/167 amend the principal MTD regulations (SI 2021/1076) to formally delay the start date of MTD for income tax self-assessment to 6 April 2026 and increase the income thresholds. Although these changes had been announced back in December 2022 by the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury the law had until this point not been updated, meaning that the original April 2024 start date and £10,000 income threshold would have been introduced automatically. Clearly this was not the government’s intention, and these regulations deal with these two key points, as had been expected.
For clarity, the principal regulations will now apply from April 2026 to businesses with income over £50,000, and from April 2027 for those with income over £30,000.
The regulations also implement most of the Autumn Statement 2023 changes – including removing the requirement for an annual report of income and expenditure and amending the provisions relating to quarterly updates which are now cumulative.
Other measures include removing the requirement for retailers to elect to keep specific records, clarifying the meaning of ‘digital records’, extending the use of MTD compatible software to correct digital records, and removing the election not to be exempt from the principal regulations (for the purposes of those opting to join MTD for ITSA on a voluntary basis, given the regs will now not apply to anyone until April 2026).
These amending regulations come into force on 14 March 2024. A new Tax Information and Impact Note has also been published, and HMRC has issued an ‘Update Notice’ setting out the information that a relevant person should send to HMRC quarterly using MTD-compatible software.
The Income Tax (Digital Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2024/167 amend the principal MTD regulations (SI 2021/1076) to formally delay the start date of MTD for income tax self-assessment to 6 April 2026 and increase the income thresholds. Although these changes had been announced back in December 2022 by the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury the law had until this point not been updated, meaning that the original April 2024 start date and £10,000 income threshold would have been introduced automatically. Clearly this was not the government’s intention, and these regulations deal with these two key points, as had been expected.
For clarity, the principal regulations will now apply from April 2026 to businesses with income over £50,000, and from April 2027 for those with income over £30,000.
The regulations also implement most of the Autumn Statement 2023 changes – including removing the requirement for an annual report of income and expenditure and amending the provisions relating to quarterly updates which are now cumulative.
Other measures include removing the requirement for retailers to elect to keep specific records, clarifying the meaning of ‘digital records’, extending the use of MTD compatible software to correct digital records, and removing the election not to be exempt from the principal regulations (for the purposes of those opting to join MTD for ITSA on a voluntary basis, given the regs will now not apply to anyone until April 2026).
These amending regulations come into force on 14 March 2024. A new Tax Information and Impact Note has also been published, and HMRC has issued an ‘Update Notice’ setting out the information that a relevant person should send to HMRC quarterly using MTD-compatible software.
