FINANCE Making
Tax Digital – what you need to know and do
Making Tax Digital (MTD) is part of the Government’s plan to make it easier for businesses to stay on top of their day-to-day accounts. There is a lot of literature and hype around this. However, there is nothing to worry about if you take time to consider your options and make the right choices. It may even save you time, money and ultimately make your business more efficient. Tim Baum-Dixon, Projects Senior Manager of Chamber patron Shorts, explains more.
WHEN DOES MTD START AND DOES IT AFFECT YOU? From April 2019, VAT-registered businesses above the compulsory VAT threshold of £85,000, will be required to set up a digital tax account and file quarterly returns online using some form of software. If you are voluntarily VAT registered, MTD is optional for now. If you currently use the gateway
to file your returns, you will no longer be able to do this, you will need to have software that files your return directly. This is because HMRC will also be taking additional information into your digital tax account. Don’t worry, for most businesses,
it will make the process of filing your VAT return as easy as clicking a button, removing the need to log on to the gateway, type in numbers and get submission reports, the software will do all that for you.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO NOW? You have until April 2019 to get MTD ready. You don’t need to rush into
upgrading your software - it’s a big decision and one that you will need to live with for some time and it’s important that you make a well- informed choice. You need to find out if your
current software is MTD compliant - 68 business network November 2018
if it is then that is it, there is nothing else to do. If it’s not, that’s fine, you just
need to start to make plans about how you will either upgrade your current systems or have a look what other accounts software is out there. If it’s the first time you have had to consider moving to accounting software, again you just need to understand what is on offer. The biggest risk associated with
MTD is not being prepared or panicking, then upgrading or getting a new system before you know what is currently available which might work better for your business.
WHAT SYSTEMS ARE AVAILABLE? The accounts software market has seen some dramatic changes over the past few years, there has been a big move to Cloud accounting packages like Xero, which don’t need to be installed on desktop or server but sit in highly secured data centres and are accessed via the internet. Other entrants like Exact Online
have also entered the market in the higher end ERP systems. The traditional market leaders like
Sage have seen the dominance of their long establish products Sage 50 and Sage 200 challenged by these entrants into the market,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
