HMRC

Programme-level service blueprint for Making Tax Digital

Mapping as-is and to-be customer journeys across the Making Tax Digital programme and bringing them together in a single programme-level blueprint.

1The client

Making Tax Digital is HMRC’s programme to move tax reporting to digital record keeping and quarterly updates for businesses and landlords. It spans many teams, services and software providers.

2The challenge

Each part of the programme understood its own journey, but there was no single view of how a customer moved through the whole thing, where the pain points were, or where different services overlapped or contradicted each other.

The main objectives were to:

  • Map the as-is and to-be customer journeys
  • Identify pain points and opportunities to optimise processes and interactions
  • Create a programme-level blueprint across all Making Tax Digital activities

3Our approach

We mapped the as-is and to-be customer journeys with the teams involved and identified the pain points that caused customers to stall, call or get it wrong. We then built a programme-level service blueprint that connected every activity across the programme, giving leaders and delivery teams one shared picture.

Making Tax Digital: illustrative programme blueprintScroll sideways to follow a business through a tax year
Stage
Step 1Find out and sign up
Step 2Choose software
Step 3Keep digital records
Step 4Send quarterly updates
Step 5Finalise the year
Step 6Pay
Business or landlord
Learns they are in scope and signs up for Making Tax Digital.
Picks compatible software or works through an agent.
Records income and expenses as they happen.
Submits a summary each quarter.
Makes any adjustments and confirms the year.
Pays what is due.
HMRC front stage
Guidance, eligibility checker, sign-up journey.
Software finder and agent authorisation.
Nudges and reminders.
Confirmation and an in-year view of what is owed.
Final declaration journey.
Payment options and plans.
HMRC back stage
Eligibility rules, identity verification.
Software recognition, agent services account.
Record-keeping rules.
Receipt, validation, estimated liability.
Reconciliation with other income sources.
Collection and reconciliation.
Software & data
Government Gateway, taxpayer record.
Third-party software, APIs.
Software records, bank feeds.
Software to HMRC APIs.
Full taxpayer record.
Payment systems.
As-is pain point
Hard to tell who is in scope and when; agents and clients get different answers.
Choice is overwhelming; authorisation steps differ by route.
Habit change is the hardest step and gets the least support.
Deadlines and corrections are unclear; errors compound across quarters.
Several overlapping journeys for one event.
The first bill under the new regime is the moment trust is won or lost.
Illustrative and simplified from the programme-level work. Not HMRC’s internal documentation.

4The results

HMRC has a programme-level blueprint and optimised journeys to plan and prioritise against. Engagement ran from January to June 2025.

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