NEWS
Extra hours could be spent on tax returns by UK ’ s SMBs each year
One in five UK sole traders have never heard of Making
Tax Digital ( MTD ) for Income Tax Self-Assessment ( ITSA ), despite the government announcing it seven years ago , a new report has found .
Research by Coconut has revealed that a potential 1 million extra sole traders would now be willing to pay for accounting services to support them with the changes coming via MTD , which the majority ( 61 %) said they found confusing , complicated and a major concern in terms of time and cost .
Surveying sole traders across the UK to fully understand their views , Coconut ’ s report , Making Tax Digital and sole traders : the £ 360m opportunity for the accounting industry , highlights the support that accountants , FinTechs , industry bodies and government need to provide sole traders to ensure they are fully prepared for the upcoming MTD changes .
The report finds sole traders spend an average of five hours on their Self Assessment tax return each year . MTD introduces new
quarterly updates , as well as an end of period statement and final declaration , replacing the current single Self Assessment return due by the end of January 2023 . This could add an additional 20 hours onto the time spent each year by the majority of sole traders in complying with the rules . When applied across the whole sector of 3.2 million sole traders , this equates to a combined 64 million extra hours spent each year on managing their tax affairs .
Three in five UK adults use embedded finance services when shopping online
substantially over the past few years . These embedded services include : the use of an e-wallet such as PayPal or Google Pay ( used by 42 % of UK adults in the past 12 months ); paying in instalments through a Buy Now Pay Later ( BNPL ) solution ( 17 %); rounding up the payment at checkout to donate to a charity or transfer to a personal investment ( 15 %); purchasing insurance when buying a high value product ( 13 %); and taking out a loan at checkout to cover the cost of expensive items ( 6 %).
Three in five ( 60 %) UK adults have used embedded finance services as part of the checkout process when shopping online in the past 12 months , according to a new survey from Temenos , one of the world ’ s leading open platforms for composable banking .
The availability of embedded finance services – financial services provided online by non-financial companies – has grown
Embedded finance services are particularly popular amongst younger generations , with four in five ( 80 %) within the 18-34 age bracket having used one in the past year .
With a high proportion of customers using at least one of these at least once a month and citing appealing features including speed , convenience , security and user-friendliness , the embedded finance market is growing fast , creating new opportunities for banks , specialist FinTech lenders , Banking-as-a-Service providers as well as the merchant brands . www . intelligentfin . tech
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