Key takeaways
- Survey: ABAB will use the results of the survey – completed by 10,195 businesses and agents in April 2026 – as part of its role to ensure that HMRC understands the needs of small businesses.
- MTD income tax: A majority of respondents continue to see no benefits to MTD income tax, although experience of using MTD income tax may have been limited at the point the survey was completed.
- HMRC services: Key methods of contacting HMRC remain ‘poor’, despite some improvement, but respondents were more positive about HMRC’s app.
A record-breaking 10,195 businesses and agents completed ABAB’s annual survey between 15 April 2026 and 29 April 2026, sharing their views on a range of topics, including Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax and HMRC’s service performance. The results of the survey have been published in the Tell ABAB report for 2025 to 2026.
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MTD income tax
There is some evidence that attitudes to MTD are softening, for example, the percentage of respondents expecting to see a significant increase in cost and time pressures due to MTD income tax had fallen significantly, as shown in the table below.
MTD cost and time pressures
| Cost 2026 | Cost 2025 | Time 2026 | Time 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterly updates | 28% | 40.8% | 29.3% | 35.9% |
| Digital record keeping | 27.2% | 40.7% | 27.6% | 38.6% |
However, HMRC may be disappointed to see that, despite some improvement on 2025, the majority of respondents still expect to see no benefits for businesses from MTD income tax.
Benefits of MTD
| 2026 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| No benefits | 60.1% | 65.2% |
| Up to date picture of business finances | 8.6% | 10.7% |
| More accurate records | 8.6% | 8.8% |
| Digital confidence in record keeping | 6.5% | 4.8% |
| Updates submitted quicker | - | 7.6% |
| Other | 16.2% | 2.8% |
The phased introduction of MTD income tax began on 1 April 2026 (or, in some cases, 6 April 2026) with the first quarterly update due for submission by 7 August 2026. Therefore, the survey, which was open between 15 April 2026 and 29 April 2026, may have captured the views of businesses and agents at very different places in their MTD income tax journey. It is possible that next year’s survey will give a clearer picture.
Engaging with HMRC
Similar to the results for MTD income tax, respondents’ experiences of engaging with HMRC by telephone and webchat remain ‘poor’, although there has been some improvement compared to 2025.
HMRC will be encouraged by the fact that the majority of respondents now rate its app as ‘average’, although a reduction in the percentage of respondents using the business tax account (BTA) and the personal tax account (PTA) will be a cause for concern. Reasons for not using the BTA and PTA included login or access issues.
Usefulness of HMRC services
| Telephone | Webchat | HMRC app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor | 46% | 55.5% | 26.3% |
| Average | 24.6% | 25.4% | 37.7% |
| Good | 21.4% | 14.7% | 29.4% |
| Excellent | 8% | 4.4% | 6.6% |
When asked: “How has your customer experience of engaging with HMRC changed during the last 12 months?”, 31.4% of respondents in 2026 said it was worse, compared to 37.1% in 2025.
ICAEW activity
In December 2024, ICAEW and the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) published a joint report highlighting the issues agents faced in dealing with HMRC, based on a six-week study. A key finding was that, even when the agent was successfully connected to a HMRC adviser, they were only able to fully resolve their query in 34% of cases. ICAEW and CIOT are in the process of repeating this exercise and will report on their findings later in 2026.
Other areas
The ABAB survey is wide ranging, touching on areas from awareness of digital prompts to experiences of receiving HMRC correspondence and accessing HMRC’s guidance. On HMRC correspondence, the report notes that there was “a strong demand for digital options - including the option to reply digitally”.
It is of particular interest that more respondents in 2026 than in 2025:
- felt impacted by legislative changes, particularly in regards to tax compliance, during the last 12 months (62.8% for 2026; 56.6% for 2025). This would appear to support ICAEW’s pre-Budget call for the government to “reform tax to promote growth”; and
- had used generative AI to seek an answer to a tax query (32.4% for 2026; 21.5% for 2025).
Next steps
ABAB carries out an annual survey as part of its role to ensure that HMRC understands the needs of small businesses. The report’s executive summary explains that ABAB will “continue to work closely with HMRC to ensure that the insights gathered through this survey help drive future improvements to services, guidance and processes”.
Prepare for 2026/27 series
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