This week's opinion

I welcome the House of Commons’ Treasury Committee’s intervention over the costs of Making Tax Digital. It has noted the huge difference between the government’s estimate of total transitional costs to business of £280 followed by net savings with the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) estimate of average annual costs £2 770. The committee has asked both parties to give a more detailed explanation of how they computed their figures.

When I saw the FSB figure my gut reaction was that it was on the high side. But I am equally sceptical that the transitional costs will be as low as HMRC’s estimate or that more regular reporting will result in a reduction in the administration burden. It may be that the government and the FSB are measuring different things or that models are built on fundamentally different assumptions. After all we still do not know...