The Government has removed the "Making Tax Digital" aspects from the 2017 Finance Bill ahead of Tuesday's debate in the House of Commons and yesterday's reading in the House of Lords.

NFU Scotland Vice President Gary Mitchell said: "Following intense lobbying by NFUS and other UK farming Unions, this is a common-sense move that will lift the immediate fear faced by many farming and crofting businesses of having to comply with complex online tax requirements at a time when access to the necessary digital infrastructure is still missing from much of Scotland.

"The Government had proposed that Making Tax Digital would bring business tax into the digital age, but for many of our members the digital age has yet to be delivered to them by the Government.

"Removal of the rushed Making Tax Digital requirements may only be temporary. If these proposals for onerous quarterly tax returns re-emerge in the future, we will again make the case that, even if the digital infrastructure was in place, farmers and crofters would have considerable difficulty shoe-horning modern agricultural businesses into the accounting and tax reporting demands."

* Meanwhile, with less than three weeks left to complete 2017 Single Application Forms (SAF), NFUS is encouraging crofters and farmers to prioritise filling out their forms before the 15 May deadline.

The online application process has seen significant improvements in recent years and the vast majority of applications are now made online. NFUS understands that, when compared to the same date in 2016, online 2017 SAF submissions already received by Scottish Government are 50 per cent up on last year.

However, more than three-quarters of all SAF forms - whether completed online, on paper or through an agent - have still to be submitted in the coming days. A combination of spring work, lambing and calving means that many farmers and crofters will have many other priorities to focus on, but the Union is urging applicants to crack on and start filling out their SAF as soon as possible.

The Union warns that, unlike 2015 and 2016, there is no likelihood of Europe granting an extension to the application period this year.

Jonnie Hall, NFUS Director of Policy commented: "With less than three weeks to go, it seems that the IT system is coping well with the current volume of applications, but peak period has still to be reached.

"Around 4,000 out of a possible 16,000 have already been successfully submitted, and many more are already on the system in draft. That said, it is also clear that we have not reached the time of peak flow - and that will be the acid test."