Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2019 to Question 205403, what the total to date is of businesses signed up for making tax digital for VAT; and what estimate he has made of what that total represents as a proportion of eligible businesses.

Further to my response on 9 January 2019 to PQ 205403, daily take-up during this pilot stage has now increased to over 100 businesses a day, in line with initial expectations. There are currently over 4,000 businesses in the pilot. This is enabling HMRC to test the service fully for all business types. HMRC informed stakeholder groups of the numbers participating in the pilot by email on 10 January.

HMRC is also continuing to issue letters to all businesses in scope inviting them to join early, alongside a range of other communications activity. HMRC’s assessment is that progress with testing and take-up remains on track to mandate the service from April 2019, and support all businesses in scope to join the service in time for their first VAT return due after that date.

HMRC continues to work with a wide range of business groups, agents and software providers to support business readiness for this change.