Research into agents’ preparedness for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – headline findings report
Published 6 November 2025
© Crown copyright 2025
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-into-agents-preparedness-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-headline-findings/research-into-agents-preparedness-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-headline-findings-report
Quantitative research with tax agents to understand awareness and preparedness for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Research Report 850.
Research conducted by Verian in December 2024 and July 2025. Prepared by Verian (Alice Fearn, Eve Robbins, Hannah Bradbury) for HMRC.
Disclaimer: The views in this report are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of HMRC.
1. Research background
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax represents the most significant change to the Income Tax regime since the introduction of Self Assessment in 1997. Sole traders and landlords are required to maintain digital records and submit regular updates to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) using Making Tax Digital compatible software, before completing a tax return at the end of the year. This represents a significant behavioural change for those affected and will impact around 2.9 million customers [footnote 1].
Among Income Tax Self Assessment customers who will be mandated into Making Tax Digital, approximately two-thirds rely on tax agents for assistance with their tax affairs. Agents played a pivotal role in the introduction of Making Tax Digital for VAT and will similarly be important in the implementation of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. HMRC has delivered communication campaigns and enhanced educational resources for agents, with additional initiatives planned. Understanding the impact of these efforts on agent and client engagement is essential.
This research explored agents’ awareness, preparedness, and perceptions of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The objectives were to:
- measure agents’ understanding of Making Tax Digital obligations
- identify actions taken to prepare themselves and their clients
- capture perceptions of benefits and concerns
- identify barriers to engagement
The research also measured agents’ willingness to encourage clients who meet the eligibility criteria to sign up for voluntary testing prior to April 2026, when those with qualifying income over £50,000 will be introduced to Making Tax Digital. Further, the research tested agents’ awareness of the need for Making Tax Digital customers to submit tax returns using software, announced at the Spring Statement 2025.
The research focused on smaller agents with fewer than 50 employees and comprised 2 waves of fieldwork: the first in December 2024 and the second in July 2025. Each wave involved a telephone survey which used a random sample design and a dual sampling frame combining a business database and Self Assessment administrative data. Overall, 506 agents were interviewed in December 2024, and 502 agents were interviewed in July 2025. Survey data was weighted to ensure it was representative of the target population. Comparisons in the results between the 2 waves are reported based on statistically significant margin, to 95% confidence. A third wave of this research will be conducted in late 2025.
2. Understanding of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Almost all agents (99.6%) said that they were aware that HMRC is introducing Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Spontaneous awareness of specific obligations increased between December 2024 and July 2025. The key obligations measured were quarterly reporting (71%, up from 63%), digital record-keeping (37%, up from 28%), the requirement to use Making Tax Digital compatible software (21%, up from 10%) and the need to sign-up to the Making Tax Digital Service (13%, up from 8%).
3. Engagement with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Agents received information about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from various HMRC sources (Figure 1) and non-HMRC sources (Figure 2). Compared with December 2024, a higher proportion of agents received information about Making Tax Digital from at least one HMRC source (84%, up from 64%).
Figure 1: HMRC sources of information about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
| Source | December 2024 | July 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Letter or email from HMRC | 25% | 62% |
| HMRC agents update, webinars or online forum | 42% | 30% |
| Other communication from HMRC | 6% | 6% |
| HMRC’s social media | 4% | 4% |
| GOV.UK | 3% | 4% |
Source: Over the last 6 months, from which sources have you received information about the new Making Tax Digital changes? Base: All respondents who were aware of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (n=500).
Figure 2: Non-HMRC sources of information about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
| Source | December 2024 | July 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Communications from software providers | 20% | 32% |
| Professional body | 29% | 31% |
| Searching online | 14% | 14% |
| Accountancy seminars or courses | 10% | 14% |
| Newspaper, trade press, radio or television | 15% | 13% |
| Continuing Professional Development | 8% | 9% |
| Word of mouth | 2% | 4% |
| Internal communications within your business | 2% | 2% |
Source: Over the last 6 months, from which sources have you received information about the new Making Tax Digital changes? Base: All respondents who were aware of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (n=500).
Most agents (86%) were aware of HMRC’s published guidance for agents on Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, including 26% that had read it in detail or actively used it in their work with clients, and 31% that had skimmed parts of it.
4. Preparedness for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
4.1 Actions taken by agents to prepare their clients
The majority of agents (70%) had at least some clients who will be mandated into Making Tax Digital in 2026 and 2027. This increased to 87% when including clients who will be mandated in 2028.
Most agents had taken actions to prepare their clients, with rates higher than in December 2024, including:
- sending communications to clients (80%, up from 59%)
- supporting digital record keeping (73%, up from 55%)
- responding to client queries (67%, up from 52%)
- advising or supporting clients in choosing new software to comply with MTD where appropriate (66%, up from 52%)
- encouraging clients to make changes (66%, up from 46%)
Overall, 7% of agents had taken no action to prepare their clients, compared with 15% in December 2024.
Agents’ expectations of client compliance improved: 51% believed that all clients would be able to comply with Making Tax Digital rules, compared with 37% in December 2024. Overall, 86% of agents anticipated taking on additional tasks to support client compliance with Making Tax Digital.
4.2 Actions taken by agents to prepare themselves
Most agents had taken actions to prepare themselves for Making Tax Digital, including:
- researching to increase their understanding (86%)
- ensuring accounting software compatibility (81%)
- attending external webinars or training (67%)
- attending HMRC webinars (46%)
Results from December 2024 are not reported here, due to a change in question design, which meant that results are not comparable. In December 2024, agents were asked about prospective actions that they will need to take to prepare themselves for Making Tax Digital, whereas in July 2025 agents were asked about retrospective actions that they had already taken.
4.3 Support from HMRC
While 24% of agents felt they needed no further support from HMRC to prepare for Making Tax Digital (up from 15% in December 2024), most identified a range of support needs. The most frequently mentioned themes included:
- general information (9%)
- guidance for clients (9%)
- public visibility (7%)
- information on technical or software requirements (6%)
4.4 Voluntary sign-up
The proportion of agents who would encourage clients to sign up voluntarily for Making Tax Digital increased from 33% in December 2024 to 49% in July 2025. Barriers to voluntary sign-up remained consistent with December 2024, centering on time and capacity constraints, technical and practical concerns, and client unwillingness. The most frequently mentioned barriers were:
- agents lacking time (27%)
- clients lacking time (15%)
- concerns about clients’ digital capability (14%)
- concerns about HMRC readiness (12%)
5. Perceptions of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
5.1 Perceived benefits and concerns
Agents expressed mixed views on the potential benefits and challenges of Making Tax Digital for their businesses and clients. While 49% saw no benefits for clients, the proportion of agents identifying at least one benefit for clients increased from 40% in December 2024 to 50% in July 2025. Some perceived benefits included:
- improved record keeping (27%)
- clients’ ability to view their tax position (17%)
- access to up-to-date information (15%)
Agents’ concerns focused on additional cost, time, and effort. The most common concerns were:
- increased financial cost for clients (33%)
- extra time required for agents to support clients (27%)
- clients’ lack of digital capability (19%)
- cost of new software (17%)
5.2 Perceived ease of compliance with filing year end return
The majority of agents (90%) were aware of the requirement to file the end-of-year tax return using compatible software, rather than the legacy online submission service. Agents were more likely to perceive this requirement as ‘easy’ than ‘difficult’ on a 5-point scale where 1 was very easy and 5 was very difficult (Figure 3). Over half of agents (55%) expected it to be easy (1 or 2 out of 5), while one-fifth (20%) anticipated it would be difficult (4 or 5 out of 5).
Figure 3: Perceived ease of compliance with the requirement to file the year-end tax return using compatible software
| Rating | Percentage of agents |
|---|---|
| 1 (very easy) | 40% |
| 2 | 15% |
| 3 | 22% |
| 4 | 9% |
| 5 (very difficult) | 11% |
| Don’t know | 3% |
Source: Thinking about this new requirement of filing the end of year tax return using Making Tax Digital compatible software: on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very easy and 5 is very difficult, please tell me how easy or difficult you think it will be for you to comply with this? Base: All respondents (n=502).
6. Appendix: sampling and weighting
The survey sample was sourced from Experian and HMRC’s Self Assessment database.
Weighting was necessary to ensure the sample was representative of the agent population and that the results were generalisable. Weighting targets were based on those used for the HMRC 2023 Agents Customer Survey. However, unlike the 2023 survey, the Making Tax Digital study only included agents with fewer than 50 employees who handled Self Assessment for clients. Therefore, population benchmarks from the 2023 Agent Customer Survey were adjusted to represent the target population for this study.
The sample was then calibrated using iterative proportional fitting, ending with a respondent profile that matched the population profile according to turnover, number of employees and Standard Industrial Classification.