The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has revealed that the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not believe they are given as much support by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as large firms and believe that the rules are not applied evenly.
Figures indicated that 49 per cent said they do not believe HMRC provides the necessary support they need to be compliant, while 67 per cent think the Revenue does not apply tax rules fairly across all businesses.
Small business owners are also disappointed about the escalating burden of up-front taxes and costs of doing business in the UK, which has proved to be the tipping point for many smaller firms who operate on very tight margins.
As a spokesman for the BCC pointed out, the Revenue must increase its efforts to provide better support to smaller firms so that they can get their tax right.
He added that HMRC has come in for criticism lately for having “inadequately considered” the needs and concerns of smaller businesses during its rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT.
The system was launched on 1 April, but there has been considerable criticism around the project. Moreover, the publication of a report by the Lords’ Economic Affairs committee in November urged HMRC to delay the go-live date of the programme for at least a year.
Meanwhile, a BCC survey found that one-third of businesses claimed that they have had to upgrade or source accounting software to prepare for the new rules and incurred “significant costs” to do so.