Hamill McIlwaine are accredited with many of the market leading software products to ensure we can assist businesses get ready for the move to digital accounting records.
Increasingly, businesses and their accountant see the benefits of digitisation. Millions of businesses are already banking, paying bills and interacting with their customers or suppliers online, and many are already using accounting software.
HMRC’s ambition is to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world and Making Tax Digital (MTD) is making fundamental changes to the way the tax system works – transforming tax administration so that it is:
- more effective
- more efficient
- easier for taxpayers to get their tax right
The move to digital integration will eliminate many of the existing paper-based processes, allowing businesses and their accountants to devote more time and attention to maximising business opportunities, encouraging growth and fostering good financial planning.
Many businesses use an accountant and MTD will allow agents to continue to provide a full service in supporting their clients.
From 1 April 2019, all VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold (£85,000) are required to keep their VAT business records digitally and send their VAT returns using MTD-compatible software. The only exception to this is for a small minority of businesses (around 3.5% of mandated customers) for which HMRC are deferring mandation until 1 October 2019.
If after then, the business’s VAT taxable turnover subsequently falls below the VAT registration threshold, mandation still applies unless the business deregisters from VAT or meets one of the other exception criteria, such as insolvency.
The deadlines for sending VAT returns and making payments are not changing.
Businesses will need to use software to keep their business records digitally. This may include dedicated record-keeping software or a combination of software packages or spreadsheets.
