Today is the last day of the HMRC consultations into Making Tax Digital. The deadline for submissions is 11:45pm tonight.
As the proposal stands every self-employed individual, partner and/or landlord with a combined income of over £10,000 will be required to file quarterly returns from April 2018.
This requirement will extend to Limited Companies from April 2020.
Self-employed businesses and landlords will need the tools to enable them to file digitally in a prescribed manner. Unlike with the current Self-Assessment Tax Return or RTI-compliant payroll, HMRC will not be providing free software for Making Tax Digital.
Instead, they are looking to the software providers to make available free software for the smallest of businesses as part of a basket products catering for the wider market. It seems, at best, the free software will only deliver the specific HMRC requirements, so some other form of bookkeeping software will be necessary to run in tandem.
The reality is that asking a business to report at least four times a year rather than once and being required to do so on a proprietary software can only add to the administrative burden and cost. Indeed, for more complex businesses, there will also be an ‘End of Year’ filing to review the four quarterly returns and make any necessary accounting adjustments or claim any reliefs and allowances not able to be included in the quarterly returns.
This has been recognised in the consultation which asks the questions “What level of financial support might it be reasonable for the government to provide towards investing in new IT, software or training?”, “What costs might you expect your business to incur in moving to the new regime?” and “Do you expect that your business will incur additional on-going costs as a result of these changes?”.
We urge every stakeholder to make their voice heard and take part in the HMRC consultation here. These questions fall under the ‘A: Bringing business tax into the digital age’. Our full response to the consultation can be read here.
At CooperFaure, we are have already implemented accountancy solutions to enable our clients to thrive in the digital age. We will also be participating in alpha testing with software providers and private beta testing with HMRC, that will enable us to keep you fully informed on every step of the journey.
We anticipate that the 2016 Autumn Statement on Wednesday 23rd November will reference Making Tax Digital with draft legislation expected in December. At CooperFaure we will be providing a live Twitter Feed on @cooperfaure together with digest and detailed newsletters on the day.
For the first time, on Thursday 24th November, we will be hosting a Free Webinar between 1pm and 2pm looking at the impact on business, the contractor and the property investor and answering your questions.
As well as expert advice and a free copy of the presentation, you can ask that nagging question in our Q&A session.
As ever, places are limited so to register and avoid missing out, please click on the button.
In the meantime, if you like any further information, please let email us at tax@cooperfaure.co.uk.