Over 580,000 Still to Register for UK Digital Tax Scheme as Deadline Nears, Though Sign-Ups Continue

More than 580,000 self-employed workers and landlords have not registered for HMRC's Making Tax Digital for Income Tax scheme with less than a month remaining before the August 7 deadline, GB News reported. A Freedom of Information request showed that of the 864,000 people required to register by April 6, only 282,637 had signed up by May 20.

Around two-thirds of those required to join had not registered when the data was compiled.

HMRC expects registration numbers to continue increasing ahead of the deadline. The agency confirmed there will be no penalties for missing quarterly filing deadlines during the first year of the scheme. Fraser Campbell, UK head of accounts and business advisory services at Azets, said the introduction of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax marks the biggest change to the personal tax system in almost 30 years.

He added that delaying registration could force affected taxpayers to complete as many as nine separate submissions within a single 12-month period. An HMRC spokesperson said thousands of customers are signing up every week. The agency has written to millions of customers and delivered hundreds of events and webinars.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax was introduced in April. It requires those with gross annual income above £50,000 to submit four quarterly digital updates instead of a single annual self-assessment tax return.