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Late payment penalties Late payment penalties for VAT and income tax selfassessment taxpayers (within Making Tax Digital only) increased from April 2025 onwards. Tax simplification Further measures are expected to be announced before the summer to simplify the tax and customs systems, and in the summer, HMRC will publish a digital transformation roadmap with an overall aim of collectively reducing the administrative burden on businesses and individual taxpayers. Worryingly, the Government has also said that it will continue to explore "how it can best bring the benefits of digitalisation to more of the around four million taxpayers who have income below the £20 000 threshold" The Government also announced further changes to MTD as set out in the technical note 'Modernising the tax system through Making Tax Digital', details of which are provided below. Finalising the policy framework for MTD and penalty reform The Government also announced several changes to the design of MTD/penalty reform including: * changes to enable taxpayers with an accounting date of 31 March to start their MTD obligations on 1 April in the first year, and * a power for HMRC to cancel/reset late submission penalty points and to cancel associated financial penalties - for instance in periods prior to insolvency MISCELLANEOUS From summer 2025, employees liable to the high-income child benefit charge (HICBC) will be able to report child benefit payments to HMRC via a new digital service.