The Making Tax Digital (‘MTD’) Fun Starts in Just Over A Week…

The first MTD deadline for quarterly returns is fast approaching on 7th August 2019 (for quarters ending 30th June 2019), with the monthly VAT returns already passed on 7th June 2019.

As a reminder, you will need to be submitting your VAT returns through compliant software, such as Xero, Quick Books, Sage or a bridging software, where you are VAT registered and have a turnover of over £85,000. If you are VAT registered but your turnover is beneath this, you will need to opt-out.

Signing up to MTD

1. Visit Signing up for MTD for VAT (link);
2. Click Sign up your business for Making Tax Digital for VAT and follow the on-screen prompts;
3. When prompted, enter your Government Gateway credentials then click Sign in. If your business is not yet eligible to sign up for MTD, a message appears to advise this;
4. Follow the on-screen prompts, providing any requested information;
5. When you receive a verification email, click the link in the email to verify your email address; and
6. Read and accept the terms of participation.

HMRC will then confirm if you can start submitting VAT Returns under MTD; this confirmation usually takes 24 hours. When submitting under MTD, businesses can continue to use their existing Government Gateway user ID and password credentials.

Once Signed Up

Once you’ve signed up to MTD, from that point onwards you must submit your VAT Returns under the new MTD system and can no longer use the Government Gateway. Before you sign up for MTD, check the following:

• The last VAT Return you want to submit under the Government Gateway has been reconciled and submitted; and
• Your VAT settings are correct.

Signing up for MTD must be done at least 5 working days after your last non-MTD VAT Return submission and at least 8 working days before your first MTD VAT Return submission.

Opting Out of MTD

If your business is VAT registered but under the turnover threshold of £85,000 in a rolling twelve month period, you do not need to register for MTD.

You will need to log on to your HMRC government gateway account for VAT, select ‘get help with this page’ and then send them a message requesting to be removed from MTD due to turnover level.

They will provide a response within two working days.

MTD 2.0

Making Tax Digital will be rolled out to other individuals and companies across other taxes, but we will explain more here in further blog posts.