Category: Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital update:

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT has been with us since April 2019, with the extension to all VAT registered businesses from April 2022.

The next roll-out will be the introduction of MTD for income tax which is scheduled to start in April 2024.

The obligation to keep records in a digital format and report information quarterly will apply to unincorporated businesses and property landlords with gross income from all business activities in excess of £10,000 a year.

Businesses operating MTD for VAT may already have ‘functional compatible software’ for income tax purposes but will need to get into a new routine for income tax reporting.

The changes will be more significant for property landlord businesses, most of whom are not VAT registered and so have not already been through MTD for VAT.

If you believe you need a new digital accounting system for your business, there are a number of MTD compliant accounting software packages on offer and we can advise you on the one that is most appropriate for your business. There are even relatively low-cost software packages specifically designed for property rental businesses.

We offer a wide range of services which are unique to your business and have already moved across all our clients to Making Tax Digital. Do you need further support with the new Making Tax Digital update? Our team of chartered accountants have a wealth of experience in a broad range of sectors, from construction and property to the charity sector. Our team work hard to ensure they create smart and effective tax-efficient solutions for start-ups to optimise growth and help them succeed. If you want to learn more about how the team can help or simply want some start-up advice from a trusted accountant do hesitate to contact us. For more information please do hesitate to contact us on 0161 962 1855. Alternatively you can email us using the form below and we will contact you as soon as possible.

Our fantastic team at A&C Chartered Accountants are here to help.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax will apply to sole traders, property landlords and certain other businesses with gross turnover and/or property income over £10,000 a year and will commence in April 2024. The system will then be extended to partners from April 2025 and LLPs and partnerships with corporate members from April 2026.

The Income Tax (Digital Requirements) Regulations 2021, set out the requirements that relevant persons must comply with under MTD for Income Tax. These include the use of MTD-compatible software to keep and preserve their business records (income and expenses) digitally, send quarterly updates of their records to HMRC and submit an end-of-period statement to HMRC.

HMRC has now published draft notices of the detailed provisions for consultation. The consultation invites views on these which provide additional information on the key requirements of MTD as they relate to:

• The use of functional compatible software.
• The information required when submitting quarterly updates and end-of-period statements.
• Retail sales election.

The draft notices specify the proposed dataset requirement. Later in the year, HMRC will publish guidance to explain how customers can reflect any accounting and tax adjustments that may be required to reconcile the quarterly submissions to the final taxable profits for the year (The End of Period Statement). The consultation sets out the adjustments that are likely to be required, such as accruals, prepayments, private use adjustments, stock and capital allowances.

As expected, the breakdown of income and expenses broadly follows the headings on the self-employment and property income pages on the Self-Assessment Tax Return.

The consultation document states that where the annual turnover is below the VAT registration threshold, the individual may choose to provide the total of all income and the total of all expenses, instead of a detailed breakdown of expenses. This is also consistent with the self-employment pages in the Self-Assessment Tax Return.

Retail sales businesses may enter a single digital record of the daily gross takings for any retail sales made.

Please talk to us about making sure your business complies with MTD. We are here to help!

For details, see: Tertiary legislation for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Do you need support with MTD for income tax? Get ahead now!

We offer a wide range of services which are unique to your business. Our team of chartered accountants have a wealth of experience in a broad range of sectors, from construction and property to the charity sector. Our team work hard to ensure they create smart and effective tax-efficient solutions for start-ups to optimise growth and help them succeed. If you want to learn more about how the team can help or simply want some start-up advice from a trusted accountant do hesitate to contact us. For more information please do hesitate to contact us on 0161 962 1855. Alternatively you can email us using the form below and we will contact you as soon as possible.

Our fantastic team at A&C Chartered Accountants are here to help.

MTD for VAT – new guidance on penalties for non-compliance

HMRC have also issued new guidance on the penalties that they impose for non- compliance with the Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT rules. In particular, there is a penalty of up to £400 for every VAT return a business files without using ‘functional compatible software’.

Functional compatible software means a software program, or set of software programs, products or applications that can:

• record and store digital records
• provide HMRC with information and VAT returns from the data held in those digital records
• receive information from HMRC

There are additional penalties if the business does not keep their records digitally.

HMRC may charge the business a penalty of between £5 to £15 for every day on which the digital record keeping requirement is not met.

To meet the digital record keeping requirement, the business’ functional compatible software must contain:

• the business name, address and VAT registration number
• any adjustments from calculations made outside the functional compatible software for any VAT accounting schemes used
• the VAT on goods and services supplied, meaning everything the business sold, leased, rented or hired (supplies made)
• the VAT on goods and services received, meaning everything the business bought, leased, rented or hired (supplies received)
• any adjustments made to a return
• the ‘time of supply’ and ‘value of supply’ (value excluding VAT) for everything bought and sold
• the rate of VAT charged on goods and services
• details of any ‘reverse charge transactions’, where the business needs to record the VAT on the sale price and the purchase price of the goods and services bought
• copies of documents that cover multiple transactions made on behalf of the business like those made by volunteers for charity fundraising, a third-party business or employees for expenses in petty cash

All transactions must be contained in the functional compatible software there is not a requirement to scan or upload supporting documents like invoices and receipts.

We have helped many businesses move over to MTD. We offer a wide range of services which are unique to your business. Our team of chartered accountants have a wealth of experience in a broad range of sectors, from construction and property to the charity sector. Our team work hard to ensure they create smart and effective tax-efficient solutions for start-ups to optimise growth and help them succeed. If you want to learn more about how the team can help or simply want some start-up advice from a trusted accountant do hesitate to contact us. For more information please do hesitate to contact us on 0161 962 1855. Alternatively you can email us using the form below and we will contact you as soon as possible.

Our fantastic team at A&C Chartered Accountants are here to help.