Making Tax Digital plans for small businesses to go ahead
18 March 2019
The government announced in the Spring Statement that it would focus on supporting businesses to transition, and will therefore not be mandating Making Tax Digital (MTD) for any new taxes or businesses in 2020.
The vast majority of VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold (£85,000) will be mandated to keep digital VAT records and send returns using MTD-compatible software from April 2019.
It was announced in July 2017 that the pace of mandation would be slowed and that Making Tax Digital will not be mandated for taxes other than VAT until at least April 2020. The Chancellor reaffirmed these plans for MTD during his Spring Statement and promised firms they would not face fines if they do their best to adapt. However, similar reporting standards for income tax, expected to be introduced in April 2020, have been pushed back by at least a year.
Businesses can get involved in the Income Tax pilot now on a voluntary basis
Stakeholder communications pack
The stakeholder communication pack provides information to support businesses that need to make the transition to digital VAT business record keeping and submission of VAT returns using MTD-compatible software from 1 April 2019.
The Making Tax Digital for Business – stakeholder communications pack has been updated with information from the 2019 spring statement.