Last year HMRC brought into the limelight their plan for “Making Tax Digital”, it is a key part of the government’s plans to make it easier for business and individuals to get their tax right. It is their ambition to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. Making Tax Digital is the first step towards this end-goal, with the immediate aim of transforming tax administration to become more effective, more efficient and overall easier for taxpayers to get their tax right.
The first stage of this process is for VAT, and for all VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold are going to be required to use the Making Tax Digital (MTD) service to keep records digitally and use compliant software to submit their VAT returns from 1 April 2019.
How to become compliant?
This all depends on which provider you currently use for your accounting software, if you use one at all. If you don’t currently use one, then please do not stop reading here. This still applies to you as it is a requirement to store your records digitally as part of this scheme, so you may as well learn more about some of the products you are going to have to use!
We are going to talk briefly about 3 contenders in the accounting software market, there are many more options out there, but this post wouldn’t be finished before the 1 April 2019!
If you currently run a version of Sage such as Sage Line 50 or Line 200 then Sage will tell you, that you are not compliant for the MTD scheme. Technically this is true, and if you wanted to continue using Sage products then you would have to speak with Sage to upgrade your current solution to one of their new Sage Cloud products.
Their current MTD-ready products are; Sage Business Cloud Accounting Start, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, Sage 50cloud and Sage 200cloud. If you are unsure what version of Sage you currently use, Sage have this page for their customers. (click here)
If you need to speak to Sage regarding upgrading your account, you can call them on 0845 111 9988.
If you would like more information about how we at DNA IT Solutions can help turn your current version of Sage, such as Sage Line 50 or Line 200 into a MTD-Ready solution, then please read on.
Other products
The next two solutions are already cloud-based software and are already compliant with the MTD scheme. See below for links to the relevant areas confirming their products are already compliant.
They have both posted extensively about the subject, Quickbooks has even opened an MTD hotline to help business owners get the right information.
If you currently use any of the two above products, you should be good to go, but If you would also like peace of mind, then just give your supplier a call and check things over with them. This is the same advice I would give to anyone reading this who is currently using software that I haven’t mentioned here. If you are unsure if you are already compliant, do your research find out if you are or if you need to upgrade your current platform. Maybe your supplier is still behind on the situation, then you still have time to shop around to get a new MTD-ready solution in place before 1 April 2019.
What can DNA IT do to help?
We are certified Sage Developers and have worked with Sage products for over 20 years. We specialise in creating modules to add to your current versions of Sage to give you extra functionality. We can do the same here. We have liaised with HMRC to find the exact requirements set by them, as to what your accounting solutions requires to able to do, in order to be compliant. Then using our knowledge and expertise we have developed a module that can plug-in to your current version of Sage, such as Sage Line 50 or Line 200 to save you the hassle of upgrading your entire platform.