One-man bands 'to win quarterly tax reporting waiver'

One-man bands are some of the firms set to be exempted from the taxman’s much-disliked plan to force them report to him online at least quarterly, a national newspaper said yesterday.

In an update today, the Treasury will say that the self-employed with modest turnovers are among the 1.3m traders who will be put beyond the plan’s scope, reported the Sunday Times.

Other small businesses such as those with no online capability are also expected to be excluded from the proposal, which has been widely criticised and warned against.

It even sparked a debate in parliament after a petition calling for it to be scrapped attracted more than 100,000 signatures, because four tax returns a year would be “adding burden.”

Although the government initially defended the plan, by insisting the e-reports would not equate to full tax returns, concessions now seem to have been granted to business groups.

For example, on top of the exemption for some, the Federation of Small Businesses reportedly says its members will embrace today’s offer by the Treasury of direct financial assistance and a longer lead-in time.