Post #1081090
2026-03-25 10:41 UTC
Replies (8)
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@slowe@mastodon.me.uk 2026-03-25 10:50
It seems the whole push behind "MTD" is towards real-time awareness of everything. And the plan is for that to be done by us all renting* software from random companies. Companies who'll probably sell/use your financial information (or leak it or be hacked). *Sure they claim there are "free" options although many of those listed in their tool can't actually do all the things HMRC already require and HMRC are careful to tell you it is your fault for which software you pick (you have to pick).
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@ericsfraga@fediscience.org 2026-03-25 17:01
@slowe Failing this, is there an approved package that runs on Linux? Or will I end up not just having to pay for some software but also a computer that runs Windows? Maybe time to close down my small business. 🤬
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@mxfraud@tabletop.social 2026-03-28 21:20
@slowe do you know of https://github.com/ac000/itsa ?
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@TheZorse@hear-me.social 2026-03-28 23:11
@slowe Similar problem in Canada, as someone else mentioned. The government provides a list of software that is approved based on whether it has the right functionality, but makes sure to note that it is up to the user to check the privacy policies. No mention of the fact that having a policy and honouring it are two different things. Only one program works with Linux. None is open source. Many, I worry, only exist to gather data. It's a mess, and for the relatively simplistic nature of tax software, the government could easily provide its own, fillable forms on the same website used for all other tax stuff.
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@castaway@fosstodon.org 2026-03-29 07:34
@slowe there is one, though you would need to get your install separately verified by hmrc
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@digitalstefan@fosstodon.org 2026-03-29 08:13
@slowe likely closing down my tiny Ltd due to this. The software I’ve been using since forever is not MTD and their support are ignoring questions about it. All of which means of course that instead of paying 21% basic corp tax rate, if I do any future freelance I’m going to pay 40% and still have to complete a tax return. So I’m probably going to scale back the freelance to £1k / year total simply to avoid the hassle.
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@steviferous@mastodon.scot 2026-03-29 11:48
@slowe UK Govt does provide free tax/payroll software for small businesses operating PAYE with under 10 employees. It’s called Basic PAYE Tools, available for Linux, MacOS and Windows. I’ve used it for many years and it does the job nicely. Baffles me that they couldn’t roll out something similar for the self-employed.
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@matthewcroughan@social.defenestrate.it 2026-03-29 14:27
I basically never feel like I'm "done" or "finished" with my accounts or anything relating to my interactions with HMRC. It's really depressing and mentally difficult for me.