Businesses need clarity on digital tax software
19 January 2018
The Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) is urging software houses and HMRC to identify Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliant software packages urgently to allow businesses to make an informed decision on which to use and help to avoid the need to make a troublesome mid-accounting period change. As the ATT explains, some businesses will need to have MTD complaint software in place in just five months’ time.
Under MTD, businesses above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) will be required to keep their records digitally and provide HMRC with quarterly VAT updates from the beginning of their first VAT quarter starting on or after 1 April 2019.
Quarterly updates will have to be submitted to HMRC from software via an Application Programme Interface (API). It is therefore important for such businesses to make sure that they have an accounting package which can do this and, if not, ensure they do in good time for their first quarterly VAT update under MTD. The ATT says that for many, that may involve using software for the first time and at an unwelcome cost.
Where a business has an accounting period which spans their first MTD VAT quarter, they will have to ensure they have appropriate software in place at the start of that accounting period (which may be well in advance of April 2019) or risk having to change accounting software mid-year.
Read the full article from ATT