Original article published in The Bay Magazine Swansea (May 2018)
Link: https://www.theswanseabay.co.uk/2018/04/27/11792/
Change is Coming!
The aim of HMRC, is for it to have one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world, which will in turn improve the efficiency, effectiveness and ease of compliance.
For those of you who have not heard of Making Tax Digital, let us explain again what it involves and how you as a business can prepare for it.
From April 2019, legislation sets out that all businesses above the VAT registration thresh-old will be required to set up a digital tax account and file quarterly returns online.
I already submit my VAT online each quarter, does this mean I am already complying?
The vast majority of VAT registered business-ses already submit their VAT returns on line, but the way they go about this is usually by entering figures manually on to the HMRC portal page. Under Making Tax Digital, businesses will have to keep their records digitally and all VAT returns will need to be filed using compatible software (And there will be very few exemptions from doing this)
This software will either be a software program or set of compatible software programs which can connect to HMRC systems via an Application Programming Interface (API).
The functions of the compatible software include:
keeping records in a specified digital form
preserving digital records in a specified digital form
creating a VAT return from the digital records and providing HMRC with this information digitally
providing HMRC with VAT data on a voluntary basis and
receiving information from HMRC via the API platform that the business has complied.
The software will create the return from the digital records and this will need to be submitted under MTD for return periods starting on or after 1 April 2019. The use of spreadsheets will be allowed, but they will have to be combined with add-on software to meet HMRC’s requirements.
How can Allchurch & Co Help?
At Allchurch & Co, we are well positioned to help new and existing businesses design processes to ensure they are informed and ready for the changes that Making Tax Digital will bring. We want to ensure that our clients are not only complying but also benefitting from the change.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out more.
OTHER UPDATES
Employer Supported Childcare
In a previous article we informed you about a new Government Scheme – Tax Free Child Care. Following the roll out of Tax-Free Childcare, the new government scheme to help working parents, existing Employer-Supported Childcare schemes were expected to close to new joiners from April 2018.
However, following the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, Education Secretary Damian Hinds, made a concession to delay scrapping the scheme by six months.
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