Written question asked by James Cleverly (Conservative) on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 13 November 2025. It was answered by Dan Tomlinson (Labour) on Friday, 14 November 2025 on behalf of the Treasury.
Taxation: Electronic Government
- Question
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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether local councillors will be included in Making Tax Digital scheme.
- Answer
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Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax will be introduced from April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000. Qualifying income is the total income from self-employment and property, assessed before expenses.
Local Authority councillors are office holders rather than sole traders. Their income and allowances do not count towards qualifying income for the purposes of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
Where a councillor has additional qualifying income from self-employment or property, they will need to comply where that income exceeds the MTD thresholds.
If a councillor is required to use MTD, and where expenses are claimed through a return, the councillor would make that claim as part of the end-of-year tax return through their MTD software.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 89450
- Session
- 2024-26
- Related items
- Grouped for answer
- Yes
- Subjects
- Councillors Electronic government Taxation
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-07-30 15:50:01 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/89450
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/89450
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/89450