Making Tax Digital for VAT - Are You Ready to go Digital in April 2019?
With less than five months to go until one of the biggest overhauls of the tax system in years, are you and your business ready? We are.
A very small percentage of businesses already file their VAT returns directly from accounting software. The majority manually submit returns online, where the figures have been calculated elsewhere, such as on a spreadsheet or commercial software.
However, most VAT registered businesses (i.e. those with a taxable turnover above the threshold of £85,000) will no longer be able to use HMRC’s Online Services for submissions for VAT Return periods beginning on or after 1st April 2019.
HMRC have confirmed that the VAT filing and payment deadlines are not changing. Neither is the way VAT is calculated – IT IS THE WAY IN WHICH INFORMATION IS SENT TO HMRC.
In essence, under MTD, information cannot be manually entered or ‘copied and pasted’ from one software package to another. It must be submitted digitally from the filing software to HMRC.
However, HMRC is not intending to provide any software packages and therefore businesses will have to use commercial software which is widely available. HMRC has published a list of software suppliers who have tested their software.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/software-for-sending-income-tax-updates
I’m not MTD ready yet – what can I do?
The good news is that you still have time. Please call our experienced team so we can discuss your current software packages and what we can do for you to help you beat the rush with ease!
The information in this article is believed to be factually correct at the time of writing and publication, but is not intended to constitute advice. No liability is accepted for any loss howsoever arising as a result of the contents of this article. Specific advice should be sought before entering into, or refraining from entering into any transaction.