KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

Taxfix has found that many UK sole traders are changing their business structure or considering a return to salaried work because of Making Tax Digital. The findings suggest the policy is affecting self-employment beyond tax reporting.

According to the tax app company’s data, nearly a quarter of sole traders affected by the rules have already set up, or started setting up, a limited company because of Making Tax Digital. A further 57% said they had considered doing so.

The figures suggest a reform intended to expand digital tax reporting is also shaping decisions about legal structure. For sole traders, incorporation brings a different set of accounting, filing and compliance duties, even if some see it as a way to manage the burden of the new reporting system.

The survey also found that 45% of respondents had considered leaving self-employment and returning to permanent salaried work because of Making Tax Digital. That points to a possible effect on business formation and the size of the self-employed workforce at a time when policymakers remain focused on growth and productivity.

Age appears to influence how people are responding. Among 18 to 24-year-olds, 29% said they had already set up or begun setting up a company at least partly because of Making Tax Digital, compared with 28% of those aged 25 to 34. The share fell to 21% among 35 to 44-year-olds, 20% among 45 to 54-year-olds and 14% among those over 55.

A similar pattern appeared in views on returning to employment. Six in 10 respondents aged 18 to 24 said the tax changes had made them consider going back to salaried work, compared with 48% of those aged 25 to 34, 43% of those aged 35 to 44, 39% of those aged 45 to 54 and 40% of those over 55.

Record keeping

The research indicates that many sole traders are still adjusting to the practical demands of digital record keeping. Four in 10 said they had started keeping digital records but were not confident they were doing it correctly, while 46% said they were using compatible software and felt ready to submit.

That split suggests awareness has improved, but confidence remains uneven as quarterly reporting approaches. For some businesses, the challenge appears to extend beyond software adoption to the wider time and administrative demands of staying compliant.

The survey found signs that the changes are already affecting day-to-day business decisions. While 39% said they felt more on top of their finances, 29% said they had become more cautious about taking on new work, 25% said they had raised or planned to raise prices to cover the extra administration, and 19% said they had delayed plans to grow or invest.

The figures suggest a mixed picture. Some sole traders say digital reporting is helping them manage their finances more closely, while others appear to be limiting activity, passing on costs or postponing expansion.

Employment concerns

For those considering leaving self-employment, moving back into a salaried role is not seen as straightforward. More than a third, or 37%, said they were worried they would struggle to find a job that matched their current income.

The main concerns were lower income, cited by 41%, followed by a competitive labour market at 32%, age discrimination at 31%, spending too long outside traditional employment at 29%, and fears that employers might view self-employment negatively at 24%.

This suggests Making Tax Digital may be putting pressure on workers who do not see an easy alternative in the wider labour market. It also raises the prospect that some may be changing their business structure not because it suits their commercial needs, but to avoid extra administrative strain.

“Making Tax Digital was meant to modernise the system. Instead, our research suggests it’s pushing many to change their business structure or leave self-employment entirely. What’s particularly concerning is that with nearly a quarter (23%) of sole traders setting up, or starting to set up, a limited company, incorporation is increasingly being viewed as an escape route. But incorporation isn’t a shortcut to less admin. Limited companies face their own complex filing obligations, with a broader set of tax, accounting and filing requirements. While closing the tax gap is an important goal, if sole traders respond to MTD by incorporating, the policy could instead push businesses outside the very system it was designed to bring them into. The focus now must be on simplifying the system and making compliance achievable, not something to be worked around,” said Oliver Harcourt, Senior Director, Taxfix.

Dutch coffee-making giants Jacob Douwe Egberts (JDE) announced last year that its plant off Ruscote Avenue in Banbury, would shut.

The factory is home to an honours board made up of plaques honouring those who worked there for 30 or more years.

The long-service Honours Board, with over 600 names of employees who worked for more than 30 years, is a key part of the factory’s history.

JDE is preserving the legacy of its Banbury factory before its closure, including preserving the original plaques.

Campaigners have been working for over a year to get their own plaques back, or their families plaques back.

Now, the company and Cherwell District Council have confirmed plaques will be displayed for the community.

Councillor Lesley McLean, Leader of Cherwell District Council, stated the council’s support for preserving these “historic items” in recognition of the factory’s contribution to Banbury.

Gordon Boffin, partner of Jo Mobley who has been instrumental in the campaign to return the plaques, said the recipients and their families just want them back.

Jo Mobley is attempting to reunite more than 600 others on the board with theirs, as well as her fathers

Ms Mobley has started the Facebook page ‘help reunite 30 years service plaques from JDE’.

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Workers for JDE coffee plant, which has closed (Image: Contributed)

The Facebook group has more than 230 followers with workers and family members alike trying to retrieve the plaques.

Talking to the BBC, she said: “It started as a very small mission and its ended up very big – it’s snowballed into finding more than 600 names.”

“I would like every person, or as quite a few have passed away, any of their families to be reunited with their plaques,” she said.

The group was working with the Labour MP for Banbury, Sean Woodcock, to retrieve the plaques.

The original plaques from the factory and the Bird’s cockerel gates to the factory are familiar landmarks in Banbury.

The gates will also be displayed to the community following the closure.

The factory, which opened as a General Foods plant in 1964, produced household brands like Bird’s Custard, Kenco, and Tassimo.

JDE Peet’s is also donating over £24,000 to various local organisations, including Banbury Young Homelessness Project, The Sunshine Centre, Banbury Museum, and The Horton General Hospital.

The funds were partially raised by auctioning equipment from the site.

The factory also have an over 18-year long partnership with Katherine House Hospice in Adderbury, which it has donated more than £62,000 to.

The company has pledged to continue providing the hospice with coffee for the next two years.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Forecourt Eye will give more than 2,000 UK forecourts free access to a new crime-reporting platform through a partnership with Facewatch. The move comes as unpaid fuel incidents remain above earlier levels and operators report wider retail crime and abuse against staff.

The new system will be added to existing Forecourt Eye tablets used at filling stations, allowing operators to manage fuel theft, shop theft and police reports on one platform.

Forecourt Eye’s analysis of 550 forecourts found unpaid fuel incidents averaged 189 a day in the five months after 28 February, up from 158 a day in the previous five months. Extrapolated across the UK’s 8,350 forecourts, that suggests daily incidents rose from about 2,400 to 2,872.

The estimated volume of fuel involved rose 24% from 87,800 litres to 108,900 litres a day. Its estimated daily value increased 48% from about GBP £131,000 to GBP £194,000, equivalent to roughly GBP £70.7 million a year if the current rate continues.

The figures point to a rising cost burden for operators as pump prices and incident levels increase at the same time. According to Forecourt Eye, unpaid fuel incidents, including drive-offs and declarations of no means of payment, are running 20% above the level seen before fuel prices rose sharply following the conflict in Iran.

Broader Crime

Operators say the problem now extends beyond the pumps. As forecourts have expanded into convenience retailing, they are also dealing with shop theft, intimidation and violence against frontline workers.

Michelle Henchoz, Managing Director of Forecourt Eye, set out the rationale for the tie-up. “Our customers have told us they increasingly want one place to manage everything from unpaid fuel and ANPR intelligence through to shop theft, violence and police reporting. This partnership delivers exactly that while fitting seamlessly into the way they already work. As offending becomes more organised and more sophisticated, operators need joined-up technology that helps them protect both their forecourt and their convenience store.”

Forecourt Eye already provides a tablet-based system that retailers use to handle incidents and recover payments from motorists who say they cannot pay. It also uses automatic number plate recognition technology to flag vehicles linked to previous offending.

From September, customers will receive an additional app on the same devices, giving them access to Facewatch’s crime-management system. Retailers will not need to install live facial recognition cameras to use the reporting platform.

Shared Intelligence

The partnership also links two separate intelligence pools. Forecourt Eye says it holds a private database of more than 300,000 vehicle registrations associated with fuel theft, while Facewatch maintains a national database of retail offenders.

Nick Fisher, Chief Executive of Facewatch, said: “The distinction between fuel crime and retail crime has largely disappeared. Modern forecourts face the same prolific offenders, violence and abuse experienced across the wider retail sector. By combining Forecourt Eye’s expertise on the forecourt with Facewatch’s crime-management capability, we’re giving operators a single platform to prevent crime, manage investigations and help police tackle repeat and violent offenders.”

Operators that choose to add Facewatch’s live facial recognition system will be able to combine number plate recognition on the forecourt with facial recognition inside the shop, creating coverage from a vehicle’s arrival on site to a customer’s departure from the store.

Facewatch says its wider retail network already spans more than 125 retailers across thousands of stores in the UK. Its system generated more than 500,000 real-time alerts of known offenders in 2025.

The Petrol Retailers Association said the change reflects how crime on forecourts has evolved as sites have become mixed fuel and convenience businesses. Staff are increasingly exposed to anger from customers over prices and to repeat offending that mirrors patterns seen across the wider retail sector.

Gordon Balmer, Executive Director of the Petrol Retailers Association, said: “Today’s forecourts are dealing with far more than fuel theft. Our members are reporting increasing levels of abuse and aggression towards colleagues who are simply doing their jobs and have no influence over the price displayed on the forecourt. Crime on Britain’s forecourts no longer begins and ends at the pump. Whether it is unpaid fuel, shop theft, organised crime or unacceptable abuse of staff, operators need joined-up solutions that recognise how these issues increasingly overlap. Bringing together technologies that help retailers prevent crime, manage incidents and support police investigations is a positive step for the industry.”