Making Tax Digital

[farmerdan7618]

I understand that there is a timeline, from this July all VAT to be digital and next July all tax to be the same. As others say this is OK for business’s which have regular cash flows etc. but for people like farmers I am not certain how it will work

There is a timeline on this, all VAT periods starting after April 2022 filed on software.

Quarterly reporting on software is for periods starting after April 2024 now, having been pushed back a year. Farmers averaging should cover irregular profits though, but will make a bit of a headache for all the calculations!

 

[farmerm]

I don't see accountants have got enough time in the year to do quarterly returns on behalf of their clients so to me that makes it a non-starter not really worth worrying about.

but its all digital now so its all quick init... I think our accountant starts doing end of year returns in July and finished about 2 weeks after the late submission deadline! I was told to expect our provisional figures last week, not seen anything yet... not a chance ours is going to be submitted by Jan 31st, good job Richie has paused the late submissions fine for a month.... Quarterly taxation is really not practically for our industry or any industry with seasonality in their incomings and outgoings for that matter. For some it would mean large tax bills in one quarter and then rebates for the rest of the year.

 

[getting on]

Has anyone successfully claimed exemption due to age, health lack of broadband etc. as the HMRC allude to.

I'll soon be 68 and am winding down a bit and just want to carry on as I am. Manual account book and a folder for invoices.

I am 80 years old and not winding down! I have done the vat since its inception and like you i have done it manually in book form then sent it to HMRC by GOV. GATEWAY. Easy no expense. Then comes this change (never happy). I have enquired about exemption, sorry but you have to be 80 or over to qualify for age. They told me i would find it difficult as i had used a computer already. I am interested in all the comments on this site as it looks as though i shall have to go digital. Small farm (100 ha) so do not need all the bells and whistles. Package for vat only would suffice. Recommend? Thanks.

 

[Still Farming]

I am 80 years old and not winding down! I have done the vat since its inception and like you i have done it manually in book form then sent it to HMRC by GOV. GATEWAY. Easy no expense. Then comes this change (never happy). I have enquired about exemption, sorry but you have to be 80 or over to qualify for age. They told me i would find it difficult as i had used a computer already. I am interested in all the comments on this site as it looks as though i shall have to go digital. Small farm (100 ha) so do not need all the bells and whistles. Package for vat only would suffice. Recommend? Thanks.

Here here.
Someone should take HMRC to task over this as THEIR IDEAS and therefore should provide help advice and relevant FREE Compatible software.

 

[Steevo]

I am 80 years old and not winding down! I have done the vat since its inception and like you i have done it manually in book form then sent it to HMRC by GOV. GATEWAY. Easy no expense. Then comes this change (never happy). I have enquired about exemption, sorry but you have to be 80 or over to qualify for age. They told me i would find it difficult as i had used a computer already. I am interested in all the comments on this site as it looks as though i shall have to go digital. Small farm (100 ha) so do not need all the bells and whistles. Package for vat only would suffice. Recommend? Thanks.

Xero Cashbook - £10/month or so through your accountant if they are a "Xero Partner".

Can't fault it.

 

[neilo]

Xero Cashbook - £10/month or so through your accountant if they are a "Xero Partner".

Can't fault it.

Quickbooks basic version (Simple Start) is £12/month, after the first 6 months. Not a lot to choose between them from all I’ve seen.

 

[farmerm]

I use Pandle... it may lack some of the features of xero or quickbooks but I have been using the free version for a couple of years...

 

[balerman]

These programs all work differently,I’ve used sage for 20 odd years.My accountant was pushing quickbooks for MTD so I went with it £10/mth plus about £300 for them to set it up for me.I’m pretty good with accounting but I found it very awkward,contras needed several transactions to be correct for example.Bank manager said try Freeagent (free for NatWest customers) it is an absolute revelation compared to QB,works perfectly and takes very little time.Was easy to set up my self.

 

[JP1]

These programs all work differently,I’ve used sage for 20 odd years.My accountant was pushing quickbooks for MTD so I went with it £10/mth plus about £300 for them to set it up for me.I’m pretty good with accounting but I found it very awkward,contras needed several transactions to be correct for example.Bank manager said try Freeagent (free for NatWest customers) it is an absolute revelation compared to QB,works perfectly and takes very little time.Was easy to set up my self.

Tell me a bit more about Freeagent please

 

[Highland Mule]

Tell me a bit more about Freeagent please

It’s good. Very good. Takes a feed from your bank accounts and produces your accounts/ vat returns/ corporate accounts and even tax returns. . Has an app and a web login.

Free to RBS and NatWest account holders.

 

[Still Farming]

Tell me a bit more about Freeagent please

Looks like it's in the APP Play Store and others if you look in PLUS HMRC already have apps in this app store store so WHY DON'T they just modify to MTD

 

[JP1]

It’s good. Very good. Takes a feed from your bank accounts and produces your accounts/ vat returns/ corporate accounts and even tax returns. . Has an app and a web login.

Free to RBS and NatWest account holders.

I'm reading up on reviews. Think it's free for NW Business accounts

Am I to go down the route of a business account for MTD as I only have one current account at the moment?

 

[Highland Mule]

I'm reading up on reviews. Think it's free for NW Business accounts

Am I to go down the route of a business account for MTD as I only have one current account at the moment?

I’d always recommend keeping a separate account for each enterprise anyway.

I’m RBS rather than NatWest and use FreeAgent for the company accounts but not the farm - that’s done by spreadsheet and (I expect) will stay like that with some sort of bridging software.

 

[balerman]

Tell me a bit more about Freeagent please

It just seems so logical to me,maybe it’s more like sage in operation,cos I got on fine for 20 odd years with that.The bank feed makes it impossible to make mistakes so the figures always add up.I think you can try it on their website.

 

[balerman]

I'm reading up on reviews. Think it's free for NW Business accounts

Am I to go down the route of a business account for MTD as I only have one current account at the moment?

Why not pay for the program,probably work out cheaper than a business account!

 

[Rodgerdodger]

I have just done my first digital return from spreadsheet using anna money bridging. I watched the youtube video a couple of times then had a go. It went very smoothly and cost nothing!

 

[Still Farming]

I have just done my first digital return from spreadsheet using anna money bridging. I watched the youtube video a couple of times then had a go. It went very smoothly and cost nothing!

Those Anna ?
Did you do all your monthly or Quarterly accounts on exel first then submit with that bridging software OR
just fill in required VAT return page details on excel and bridging software and send off ?

 

[Rodgerdodger]

I did a spreadsheet layout as per my VAT book and put net figures in, a column to show vat rate and then used excel to calculate VAT and gross values.
Excel also calculated box values (which is a must for HMRC MTD). 4 months ago I had never used a spreadsheet but with a bit of youtube tuition...
I then uploaded spreadsheet to anna money web site and it decided on 9 cells for boxes 1 to 9 which were wrong. I simply changed them and submitted with ID etc.

 

[JP1]

I did a spreadsheet layout as per my VAT book and put net figures in, a column to show vat rate and then used excel to calculate VAT and gross values.
Excel also calculated box values (which is a must for HMRC MTD). 4 months ago I had never used a spreadsheet but with a bit of youtube tuition...
I then uploaded spreadsheet to anna money web site and it decided on 9 cells for boxes 1 to 9 which were wrong. I simply changed them and submitted with ID etc.

I am about to embark on my first QTR return digitally . Don't you have to link a bank account now ?

 

[Still Farming]

I am about to embark on my first QTR return digitally . Don't you have to link a bank account now ?

QTR ?