For the last few years HMRC have been hinting that there will soon be a tax reform dubbed "Making Tax Digital".  Quite what form this would take and what would be required of businesses and individuals was unknown until February 2018 where HMRC finally confirmed what Making Tax Digital will be and when it will take effect from.

At present MTD (Making Tax Digital) will be effecting VAT registered businesses only, however the suggestion will be that within the next few years all businesses and individuals will be effected.

What does MTD actually mean / hope to achieve in the long run?

• Digital record keeping / software (paper records will no longer be "compliant")
• A live tax account.  All individuals and businesses will be able to see a live balance of their tax liabilities and communications with HMRC
• No more tax returns?  In the very long term HMRC have stipulated that quarterly digital submissions will replace the "end of year" tax return

MTD marks possibly the largest reform to the tax system in history... although at this stage it is worth stating that a lot of this is "planned" but may change considerably when it finally comes to pass.

At the moment, the only confirmed requirements relate to VAT registered businesses;

• From April 2019 all VAT registered businesses above the VAT registration limit will have to submit their VAT returns via software.  The HMRC "free" portal will cease to exist, as will the option of paper VAT returns
• From April 2020 all VAT registered businesses below the VAT registration limit will also have to submit their VAT returns via software

Essentially by April 2020 all VAT registered businesses will need to use bookkeeping software and all VAT returns will have to be submitted via software.

For our clients we will be offering two main lifelines to keep you compliant and hopefully removing any panic;

As a Sage Partner we can set you up on Sage at a reduced price, help train you and transition to using software if you are not already... that's it.  You will have all the benefits of using software and have ongoing help and support, as well as the ability to file your VAT returns straight from Sage.

For those that perhaps do not feel comfortable with software, or rather that we take the burden of bookkeeping and VAT returns away, we will offer inhouse bookkeeping and VAT return preparation as we have always done.  Behind the scenes we will be using software on your behalf, so that you see "no change" but are happy knowing everything is being taken care of and filed.

See details of how we work with our clients for bookkeeping below: