Call to delay new tax scheme

The UK’s four farming unions have called on government to delay the new Making Tax Digital scheme for farm businesses.

According to NFU Scotland (NFUS), the NFU, NFU Cymru, and Ulster Farmers’ Union, the scheduled implementationof thescheme will be inaccessible for many farm businesses and difficult to implement properly.

The unions say the complex scheme requires access to digital infrastructure that is not available in many rural areas, as 5% of the population does not have adequate access to broadband and many of those people are farmers.

NFUS vice-president Gary Mitchell said the government proposed that Making Tax Digital would bring

“For many the digital age has yet to be delivered”

business tax into the digital age.

“But for many of our members the digital age has yet to be delivered to them by the government,” he added.

“This fact, combined with overwhelming complexity, is why action is necessary. We have serious concerns for those farm businesses that will be among the first forced to comply with these changes and the issues this may bring, not to mention the potential costs involved.”

The four farming unions believe that farmers will have considerable difficulty due to the complexity of modern farm businesses, two- thirds of which run diversified enterprises, requiring different accounting andtax adjustmentsand potentially separate income and expenditure reporting.