Rejected petition: Provide a free, state-funded software portal for Making Tax Digital (MTD)
Rejected on
We call on the Government to instruct HMRC to build a free digital portal for Making Tax Digital (MTD). Access to a mandated state tax system should be free to all citizens and not conditional on private software subscriptions.
From April 2026, HMRC's Making Tax Digital rules mandate digital reporting for sole traders. However, unlike Self Assessment, HMRC provides no free public portal for these submissions, forcing citizens to buy private software subscriptions.
Existing commercial "free" tiers are highly restrictive—capping monthly transactions or limiting users to a single bank feed. This forces small business owners to pay a private corporate "software tax" simply to fulfil a statutory legal duty.
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.
You may wish to sign this open petition:
'Create a government-owned, free software for Making Tax Digital (MTD)'
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/769610We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.