B2B Networking Event - Making Tax Digital
Great Tuesday morning with NatWest and FreeAgent talking about the biggest tax revolution in a generation - Making Tax Digital.
What is Making Tax Digital?
Making Tax Digital is a government initiative that sets out a bold vision for a digital tax system to ‘make it easier for individuals and businesses to get tax right and keep on top of their affairs – meaning the end of the tax return for millions'. The aim of the initiative is to make tax administration more effective, more efficient and easier for taxpayers, through the implementation of a fully digital tax system.
What's changing?
The current plans, in brief, are:
- The smallest businesses will be exempt from MTD – the "smallest businesses" will be businesses with annual turnover of less than £10,000.
- Taxpayers will send in summaries of their income and expenditure at least four times a year.
- More taxpayers will be able to use the cash basis of accounting.
When will the changes happen?
Making Tax Digital has a phased roll-out plan which started in early 2016 and is set to come into full effect from 2020. Anticipated key milestones include:
April 2019 - Businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold are required to keep digital records and submit quarterly returns for VAT purposes only through their accounting software.
Businesses are able to voluntarily keep digital records for 'other taxes'.
April 2020 - HMRC looks to widen the scope of Making Tax Digital.
FreeAgent's been submitting VAT digitally since 2010
Digital VAT may feel like a big change, but FreeAgent is ready. In fact, they h ave been submitting digital VAT returns to HMRC on behalf of their customers for the last eight years.
They are proudly participating in the MTD pilot programme and their software is on HMRC’s list of compatible suppliers for MTD for VAT.
For more information on how this will affect your business and accountants, follow this link to FreeAgent's website https://www.freeagent.com/guides/making-tax-digital/