I don't know if I am worrying too preemptively, but this looks like an absolute clusterfuck waiting to happen.
What is not 'digital' about the current version.
Or
Are they simply saying that tax forms etc submitted by post will not longer be available, and making it sound more complicated by mentioning all the third party software?
Or
Are they doing away with the digital version that looks like the sheet they send out?
That always seemed a bit out of date anyway. . . but it works doesn't it? Why not keep the HMRC version? The third party software will have to integrate with whatever they have on their end anyway right?
Relatively simple for someone like me who has some very basic 'money in' and 'money out' boxes.
The government/Treasury/HMRC think that most tax payers are incapable of typing or using a calculator accurately and, as a result, make mistakes in reporting their income and expenses. Therefore they devised Making Tax Digital (in all its forms) to try to minimise these perceived risks. The idea is that taxpayers should use software which captures the source information digitally to avoid the possibility of re-keying errors. So, in its simplest form, the software should import transactions directly from the taxpayer's bank account(s) and then the taxpayer should analyse these. Any other digital sources of data should also be linked to the software too. So, for instance, if you run a shop and record your sales on an electronic till, the reports from the till should be imported electronically to the software.
In my opinion, most of the taxpayers I deal with have generally recorded the transactional values of the the data I've mentioned accurately regardless of the method they've used. The problem often arises with the analysis of this information. Making Tax Digital (MTD) doesn't address this problem.
HMRC want the self-employed and landlords whose combined income is above £10,000 pa to use the new MTD for Self Assessment and therefore use MTD software. Other taxpayers, in self assessment, such as high earners and those with significant investment income will continue to submit annual Tax Returns in the same way.
For those caught by the MTD for Self Assessment rules they'll need to submit summary information every three months from the MTD software and then a final Return to 'tidy up' the Accounts and include other sources of income etc which would have appeared on their traditional Tax Return.
So, instead of submitting one Tax Return per year, you'll have to submit five!
Maybe, but it's an extra ball ache for me at the moment.
You may be able to deduct the tax, but that doesn't make it free.
Also, from how I understand it I would pretty much have to give an accountant exactly the same details and receipts etc that I have to do for HMRC anyway.
The decision to use an Accountant or not has always been down to the taxpayer. MTD won't change that. Some taxpayers really don't want to spend any time keeping their books. They are what are known as Carrier Bag or Shoebox jobs to Accountants. The client puts every bit of financial paperwork in a bag or box and hands it over to the Accountant once a year. The Accountant creates the records from the papers and prepares the Accounts and Tax Return. Some taxpayers use spreadsheets or software to collate all the financial information and file all the paperwork neatly and pass this over to the Accountant. Most taxpayers fall somewhere between those two extremes. Obviously, the amount of work done by the Accountant (and therefore the size of the bill) will vary depending on the level of work done by the client and the complexity but the Accountant will always ensure that the information submitted to HMRC will be accurate, compliant with the tax legislation and that all possible claims have been made. Even if some taxpayers are good at keeping their financial records they often want the re-assurance that they've been compliant and paying the correct amount of tax and that's why they use an Accountant.
whoop whoop.....last paper year before quickbooks takes over! 
