Making Tax Digital, the HMRC initiative for VAT registered businesses who are trading over £85,000 in annual sales as if 1 April 2019, is almost upon us.

If your VAT quarter ends on the 30th of June 2019, then you will need to submit your VAT return via Making Tax Digital approved software, by the 7th of August 2019.

This means if you are used to submitting your VAT returns through HMRC’s online tools, you will need to find an alternative solution and ensure you are registered for Making Tax Digital.

There are many accounting software companies who are claiming it is all very easy. However, nothing about VAT is easy, it is the easiest area of tax to get wrong and we find that businesses who do it themselves, are in most cases doing it incorrectly.

This is what HMRC is banking on as well as new digital record keeping rules that come into effect with Making Tax Digital, will mean it is a lot easier and quicker to do VAT inspections and penalise more businesses for errors.

What can you do as a business owner to counteract this? Firstly you need to ensure your VAT knowledge is as good as ours is to ensure all your transactions are categorised correctly. If it’s not or you don’t have the time to comb through hundreds pages of VAT legislation, then it’s time to have a chat to an expert in this area to ensure VAT fines and inspections is one issue your business doesn’t need to worry about.

Give us a call on 01268 786 960 to find out more about working with us.