MTD deadline...

[Cowabunga]

Quick update on this. I received a letter from HMRC last week, telling me that I need to register for MTD for my next monthly VAT return, or they will apply penalties. By my reckoning, I've saved 15 monthly subscriptions since the date of this thread, and hopefully allowed them to sort out any gremlins in their system.

Being forced down the monthly subscription/cloud based route now though I guess.

You can still buy Office as a one-off I believe, but Microsoft365 [as Office365 is now called] isn't exactly a crippling expense. There is a small charge annually for my bridging software also but they amount to around £100 annually. Yes, I know, why should we pay to submit our tax records? It is just the way it is.

I've not had any gremlins with the system whatsoever. It works like a dream and my wife now loves it. The only issue I had to start with was with getting her to open a template and then immediately saving that as that month's VAT as the title and the normal Excel suffix, rather than saving the working file as another template. Also with 365, switch the auto-save button on, to save all months in the same place, or you will waste time trying to find files later on.

 

[Still Farming]

Quick update on this. I received a letter from HMRC last week, telling me that I need to register for MTD for my next monthly VAT return, or they will apply penalties. By my reckoning, I've saved 15 monthly subscriptions since the date of this thread, and hopefully allowed them to sort out any gremlins in their system.

Being forced down the monthly subscription/cloud based route now though I guess.

Email received here but it implied to different sector possibly.

 

[farmerm]

Quick update on this. I received a letter from HMRC last week, telling me that I need to register for MTD for my next monthly VAT return, or they will apply penalties. By my reckoning, I've saved 15 monthly subscriptions since the date of this thread, and hopefully allowed them to sort out any gremlins in their system.

Being forced down the monthly subscription/cloud based route now though I guess.

Don't leave it to the last minute if you want to avoid penalties... Cloud based accounting is a very different beast to paper based accounts!! I found the transition a lot more challenging and time consuming than I expected. If you don't want to pay a subscription I would suggest looking at Pandle as an option. Have not really seen any gremlins in the MTD system other than say it can take a few days to get the registration set up, don't expect to do it last moment on your return deadline.

 

[farmerm]

Email received here but it implied to different sector possibly.

As I understand it all businesses with turnover over £85K should already be on MTD submissions but I think those Vat registered by below £85K can choose to delay moving to MTD until Apill 2023

 

[Still Farming]

As I understand it all businesses with turnover over £85K should already be on MTD submissions but I think those Vat registered by below £85K can choose to delay moving to MTD until Apill 2023

No hurry with anything ,Pandemic need sorting FIRST!!!

 

[balerman]

Quick update on this. I received a letter from HMRC last week, telling me that I need to register for MTD for my next monthly VAT return, or they will apply penalties. By my reckoning, I've saved 15 monthly subscriptions since the date of this thread, and hopefully allowed them to sort out any gremlins in their system.

Being forced down the monthly subscription/cloud based route now though I guess.

Try Freeagent,free for Nat West business customers.Works really well for me,after a failed attempt with Quickbooks through my accountant,which they had to set up for me at great expense.Set up Freeagent myself,very simple, much more logical to me after 15 years of Sage.Cant recomend it enough.

 

[DrWazzock]

Been using quick books for 2 years now. Takes me twice as long to do the VAT as it did on paper. The accountants bill has actually gone up supporting the package. And had to design the structure myself, account headings, use of classes etc. Ok we can see more quickly how we are doing financially but we always knew that anyway. I’d like to be able to say it’s saved us time and money but it hasn’t. It’s made it easier for the accountant and the government but not for us.
There was no quicker way of issuing an invoice than the carbon copy book and I still use it.

 

[Still Farming]

Been using quick books for 2 years now. Takes me twice as long to do the VAT as it did on paper. The accountants bill has actually gone up supporting the package. And had to design the structure myself, account headings, use of classes etc. Ok we can see more quickly how we are doing financially but we always knew that anyway. I’d like to be able to say it’s saved us time and money but it hasn’t. It’s made it easier for the accountant and the government but not for us.
There was no quicker way of issuing an invoice than the carbon copy book and I still use it.

Whose working for who.
All done for them.
If these packages so good ,who needs an Accountants???

 

[Cropper]

Nice to know I’m not the only one, got the letter last week so put it up the priority list. Planning on using an Excel spreadsheet and Vitaltax bridging software. Hopefully shouldn’t cost more than £100/yr as have to pay to use Excel.

I still can’t see why they think digital is better. Surely more chance of making an error on a key pad than writing a number down, and when I add up manually I always do it twice to check and also cross check, so will I still need to check spreadsheet figures.

As to the penalties applied it seems that they are based on the VAT owed so as we are reclaiming does that mean no penalty?

 

[Goweresque]

The guy I use has decided to make his basic VAT submission service available free. I suppose he plans to make his money by charging for extras.

VAT Direct - Free Making Tax Digital bridging system and cloud cashbooks for smaller businesses

VAT direct offer a free service for submitting vat returns for making tax digital

www.vat.direct

MTD is actually not that complicated, but no-one explains what it actually means. In essence all that is required is for the basic 7 box VAT return to be created as a CSV file from a spreadsheet, which then has to be uploaded to the HMRC server. A CSV file is a particular type of file (with a .csv suffix) that is a file type option when you choose from the 'Save as' list on your computer.

So if you currently use a spreadsheet to collate your VAT invoices, all you need to do is add a second sheet to the file, that draws the info from the first sheet in the same format as on the old paper VAT return. Like this:

You then save that sheet as a CSV file (when saving as CSV only the active sheet is saved) and that is the information in the format that HMRC want. We are basically recreating manual submission of the 7 boxes with a digital version of the same. HMRC get exactly the same info as before, just in an entirely digital form.

The Vat Direct service linked above looks a bit homemade and isn't exactly the most user-friendly system I've ever used, but it works fine, I've been using it ever since the MTD requirement came in, its not cost me a penny, I can still use my own spreadsheet system to collate the invoices, which in itself is free because I use Open Office. Plus you can email the guy who runs it with any questions you have, he replies very quickly.

 

[Limcrazy]

+1 for Vital Tax though more expensive for this year it cost me £12.
Very simple to download and use.

 

[neilo]

Don't leave it to the last minute if you want to avoid penalties... Cloud based accounting is a very different beast to paper based accounts!! I found the transition a lot more challenging and time consuming than I expected. If you don't want to pay a subscription I would suggest looking at Pandle as an option. Have not really seen any gremlins in the MTD system other than say it can take a few days to get the registration set up, don't expect to do it last moment on your return deadline.

I registered this morning, which I hadn’t done before as it stops you using ‘non-compliant’ software. I’ve been using Quickbooks on a PC since 2012 and get on very well with it. The last desktop program I bought was Quickbooks Pro, costing £85 in 2016 iirc. It does everything needed to file VAT online, and have been doing it with a click of a mouse since 2017, but Inuit have chosen not to make that particular program ‘compliant’.

I can transfer all my data straight over to the compliant subscription versions, and they are obviously using MTD as an excuse to force people onto that payment model.

Apparently there is a cutdown QB version, which isn’t advertised much, but can be used as bridging software (for now), and you just enter the values in the relevant boxes.

I certainly don’t intend starting messing about on Excel spreadsheets!

 

[neilo]

Whose working for who.
All done for them.
If these packages so good ,who needs an Accountants???

Accountancy is good, once you’ve got used to using it. I know exactly how far in the doo-doo I am at any given point, just by looking on my computer, as well as what’s going out when.

In theory accountancy should be cheaper if they are just checking it over and then calculating & filing a tax return. Mine still charges just as much though, and still wants to have all the filed invoices for someone to check through them.

I keep meaning to look at moving to a more local firm, but it keeps getting left.

 

[farmerm]

Nice to know I’m not the only one, got the letter last week so put it up the priority list. Planning on using an Excel spreadsheet and Vitaltax bridging software. Hopefully shouldn’t cost more than £100/yr as have to pay to use Excel.

I still can’t see why they think digital is better. Surely more chance of making an error on a key pad than writing a number down, and when I add up manually I always do it twice to check and also cross check, so will I still need to check spreadsheet figures.

As to the penalties applied it seems that they are based on the VAT owed so as we are reclaiming does that mean no penalty?

The theory why digital is less error prone is you are supposed to link your bank account to your accounting software it is then a simple case of marking each transaction as vatable or none vatable.. except in reality it is never that simple! Typing figures into excel is a fudge that I dont think they really intended to be a solution when MTD was conceived! If they find you have overclaimed I am sure there will be a penalty!

 

[Wombat]

The theory why digital is less error prone is you are supposed to link your bank account to your accounting software it is then a simple case of marking each transaction as vatable or none vatable.. except in reality it is never that simple! Typing figures into excel is a fudge that I dont think they really intended to be a solution when MTD was conceived! If they find you have overclaimed I am sure there will be a penalty!

The thing is my expenses come out of a number of accounts as I tend not to run accounts with people as I find them a ball ache. Just tap the phone on the machine and walk out.

The current system is of basically of using a program to transpose the numbers from a spreadsheet into the same format as before offers nothing just more pia

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Making Tax Digital is a key part of the government’s plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs.


HMRC’s ambition is to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. Making Tax Digital is making fundamental changes to the way the tax system works – transforming tax administration so that it is:

(Another 'world beating' project)

• more effective
• more efficient
• easier for taxpayers to get their tax right

Self-employed businesses and landlords with annual business or property income above £10,000 will need to follow the rules for MTD for Income Tax from their next accounting period starting on or after 6 April 2023.

 

[Still Farming]

Making Tax Digital is a key part of the government’s plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs.


HMRC’s ambition is to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. Making Tax Digital is making fundamental changes to the way the tax system works – transforming tax administration so that it is:

(Another 'world beating' project)

• more effective
• more efficient
• easier for taxpayers to get their tax right

Self-employed businesses and landlords with annual business or property income above £10,000 will need to follow the rules for MTD for Income Tax from their next accounting period starting on or after 6 April 2023.

While yet then.

 

[e3120]

No need for subscription with this.

Best Free MTD VAT Bridging Software for Excel

HMRC recognised Making tax digital for VAT bridging software

www.comsci.co.uk

Bit daft that you end up typing the figures in boxes in excel, instead of the website, but that's the result of this type of thing. I shan't be inviting the revenue to peer into my accounts for a good while yet.

 

[Cowabunga]

No need for subscription with this.

Best Free MTD VAT Bridging Software for Excel

HMRC recognised Making tax digital for VAT bridging software

www.comsci.co.uk

Bit daft that you end up typing the figures in boxes in excel, instead of the website, but that's the result of this type of thing. I shan't be inviting the revenue to peer into my accounts for a good while yet.

Indeed, it is a complete waste of time and a botheration for no good reason whatsoever.

In a year or so's time they will require quarterly accounts from all self employed people, which is yet another way for them to create jobs for the boys and add uncompetitive costs onto small businesspeople. To what end? It will not increase their tax revenue overall and will be a complete administrative ball-ache and increase in accountancy cost for everyone concerned. At its simplest, I hope it can be done just by using the VAT figures, to save duplication and time, but if I were a betting man I would put money on them requiring the use of accounting software which only a tiny minority currently use. Yet again I need to know, why?

 

[robs1]

The guy I use has decided to make his basic VAT submission service available free. I suppose he plans to make his money by charging for extras.

VAT Direct - Free Making Tax Digital bridging system and cloud cashbooks for smaller businesses

VAT direct offer a free service for submitting vat returns for making tax digital

www.vat.direct

MTD is actually not that complicated, but no-one explains what it actually means. In essence all that is required is for the basic 7 box VAT return to be created as a CSV file from a spreadsheet, which then has to be uploaded to the HMRC server. A CSV file is a particular type of file (with a .csv suffix) that is a file type option when you choose from the 'Save as' list on your computer.

So if you currently use a spreadsheet to collate your VAT invoices, all you need to do is add a second sheet to the file, that draws the info from the first sheet in the same format as on the old paper VAT return. Like this:
View attachment 915698
You then save that sheet as a CSV file (when saving as CSV only the active sheet is saved) and that is the information in the format that HMRC want. We are basically recreating manual submission of the 7 boxes with a digital version of the same. HMRC get exactly the same info as before, just in an entirely digital form.

The Vat Direct service linked above looks a bit homemade and isn't exactly the most user-friendly system I've ever used, but it works fine, I've been using it ever since the MTD requirement came in, its not cost me a penny, I can still use my own spreadsheet system to collate the invoices, which in itself is free because I use Open Office. Plus you can email the guy who runs it with any questions you have, he replies very quickly.

This is what I use only issue I have had is it works far better on chrome not firefox, it's pretty simple and there are tutorials on you tube and its free