In its response to the consultation Making Tax Digital: Corporation Tax, the NI Tax Committee questions if HMRC has a case for introducing MTD for CT which is currently planned to be introduced no earlier than April 2026. The Committee also sets out that the complexity of UK corporation tax rules will present challenges in the context of MTD. These rules will become even more complex from April 2023 due to the recent Budget announcements.

Overall, the Committee makes the following key points:-

• The case for introducing MTD for CT needs to be set out by HMRC in detail which should include a review of the impact of MTD for VAT in 2019/20 and 2020/21 on reducing the tax gap;
• The Office of Tax Simplification’s work on CT complexity should be taken forward in tandem with a defined roadmap for addressing CT complexity over the next five years; and
• The exemption from MTD for CT quarterly filing should be available to both companies paying CT in instalments and companies subject to statutory audit in the current accounting period which received an unqualified opinion in their previous accounting period.

The NI Tax Committee’s response can be read in the Source Material section of this edition.