Tax: the UK government is looking at using SMEs’ and self-employed individuals’ real-time financial transaction data to calculate and collect tax | Credit: Steve Buissinne/Pixabay
The UK government is exploring how technology can streamline tax administration. But HMRC must not add more burden to a community that is already being battered by COVID-19 and Brexit. Ian Hall reports
In December last year, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued a request for information (RFI) to investigate how it can use SMEs’ and sole traders’ real-time financial transaction data, obtained through open banking and therefore with their permission, to calculate and collect tax.